Lupus Foundation Offering Grants into Stem Cell, Pediatric and Other Disease Research

The Lupus Foundation of America announced that its 2016 peer-reviewed research funding will include a focus on lupus studies into stem cells, environmental disease triggers, and outcomes in children and teenagers. Applications from researches are now being accepted for the awards, which can range up to $140,000.

The foundation will also offer financial assistance, drawing on a reserve fund, to researchers needing external support for ongoing lupus research.

“This funding is critical for advancing research on a complex disease that doesn’t conform to conventional wisdom,” Sandra C. Raymond, Lupus Foundation of America’s president and CEO, said in a press release. “Through our efforts, we are challenging what isn’t working by funding research that will help to uncover the causes of lupus, understand its progression, and identify smarter and more efficient ways to accelerate the search for treatments and cures that ultimately will end lupus forever.”

Among the grants, fellowships, and awards to be offered this year are:

• LIFELINE Grant Program — This program grants one-year salary support to faculty members who lose study funding due to the decreased support from governmental sources. Since its 2014 start, this program has allowed key lupus research to continue while investigators reapply for larger federal grants.
• Stem Cells in Lupus — This support aims to accelerate the discovery of potential therapeutic benefits of adult stem cells in lupus, and ways these cells may be harvested to develop life-saving treatments.
• Environmental Triggers of Lupus — This funding will support projects to increase the current understanding of the role of the environment in the development of lupus and lupus flares.
• Health Outcomes in Pediatric Lupus — The grant, available through the Foundation’s Michael Jon Barlin Pediatric Research Program, is designed to improve the short- and long-term health outcomes in young lupus  patients. It was established with the support of the Wallace H. Coulter Foundation.
• Career Development Award — This award intends to facilitate the professional development of young scholars interested in becoming lupus clinician-scientists.
• Gina M. Finzi Memorial Student Summer Fellowship Program — This program’s goal is to spark an interest in lupus research among young scientists by funding lupus studies conducted under the supervision of an established researcher.

More information on these awards, and submission guidelines, is available at lupus.org/rfa. The deadline for applications is April 8, 2016.