Applications Open for Lupus Foundation Research Grants

Applications for a series of grants from the National Research Program of the Lupus Foundation of America are currently open for investigators working on lupus-related research. The program is intended to fund critical areas of lupus scientific research, such as environmental triggers of the disease and health outcomes in pediatric lupus, as announced by the foundation in a press release.

The National Research Program will accept applications from investigators until March 31st for the several grants, fellowships and awards through their website. “The Lupus Foundation of America National Research Program is essential to funding the critical research of investigators who are on the brink of scientific breakthroughs in lupus,” said the research subcommittee chair of the medical-scientific advisory council at the Lupus Foundation of America, Amr H. Sawalha, MD.

The awards include a LIFELINE Grant Program, which offers a year of funding for researchers with a lack of external funding regarding a specific and previously funded research project that suffered from reductions in available government sources. The Stem Cells in Lupus award is meant to advance findings related to new stem cell therapies for adults with lupus, while the Environmental Triggers of Lupus aims to improve the available knowledge on the impact of environment for developing the disease.

Health Outcomes in Pediatric Lupus, on the other hand, will fund through the foundation’s Michael Jon Barlin Pediatric Research Program projects dedicated to improving both short and long-term results of pediatric treatments. The Career Development Award is meant to assist early-career scientists in their professional development to become lupus clinician-scientists, while the Gina M. Finzi Memorial Student Summer Fellowship Program will support the dissemination of lupus research among young scientists interested in working in collaboration with more experienced investigators.

“The two new lupus grants added to the Foundation’s comprehensive research program this year are focusing on areas that are understudied and underfunded. Lupus investigators are tackling the biggest challenges in lupus research. Funding for these critical projects have the potential to impact patients’ lives today and will bring us a step closer to treatments and cures for people with lupus,” added Sawalha.

In addition, the Lupus Foundation of America is among the three lupus organizations that are going to support the advancement of lupus research by granting the Lupus Insight Prize, a recognition of major, novel insights and/or discoveries with the potential to alter the thinking on lupus and high probability of creating further progress in the diagnosis and treatment of the condition. The other two organizations are the Alliance for Lupus Research (ALR) and the Lupus Research Institute (LRI).