Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Medicas y Nutricion

WASHINGTON, May 29, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The Lupus Foundation of America is pleased to announce six recipients of the 2024 Gina M. Finzi Memorial Student Summer Fellowship Program. This fellowship pairs undergraduate, graduate, and medical students with experienced mentors to guide them in their lupus research efforts. The goal of the program is to cultivate interest in lupus research amongst young scientists, ultimately growing the next generation of lupus experts. The 2024 Finzi Fellowship Awardees will focus on important areas of lupus research including lupus nephritis, environmental factors affecting gene expression, approaches to improving physical activity in lupus, brain injury in childhood lupus, and adoption of natural antifungal immunity in the kidney for the development of lupus nephritis and antifungal therapies. "The Gina M. Finzi Memorial Student Summer Fellowship Program reinforces to the student the importance of their work in understanding lupus and how this impacts care of patients with this disease," shared Joseph Craft, MD, Paul B. Beeson Professor of Medicine and Professor of Immunobiology, Yale School of Medicine and 2024 Finzi Grantee Mentor. "It also strengthens the student's commitment to pursuing a career in care and treatment of patients, and investigating cause and treatments for lupus." Throughout the program, Finzi grantees are mentored by an experienced lupus researcher who is dedicated to their work and growth as a scientist. This mentorship component is crucial to the program as it helps ensure young scientists receive support and counsel as they chart their own path in lupus research. The Gina M. Finzi Memorial Student Summer Fellowship Program, established in 1984, was created to honor Gina M. Finzi, the late daughter of former Lupus Foundation of America President Sergio Finzi, PhD. Former grantees have gone on to become distinguished lupus experts, leading novel and innovative lupus research. "The only way to ensure breakthroughs in lupus treatment and care is to invest in the next generation of promising scientists," shared Joy Buie, Ph.D, MSCR, RN, Vice President of Research at Lupus Foundation of America. "The Lupus Foundation of America's Gina M. Finzi Memorial Student Fellowship Program highlights our commitment to nurturing those that will transform the future of lupus research. The program doesn't just stop at funding the research of these young scientists, but also invests in their development and personal goals." The grantees' study will contribute to a variety of crucial areas within lupus research: Jafar Al Souz Yale School of Medicine Project Title: Lymphoid and Kidney-infiltrating CD8 T Cells in Lupus Nephritis Mentor: Joseph Craft, MD Kierra Franklin Emory University & Georgia Tech Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering Project Title: Determining the Impact of MeCP2/DNMT1 Imbalance in Epigenetic Dysregulation Mentor: Karmella Haynes, PhD Chun-Chen Lin The Regents of the University of Michigan Project Title: Improving Measurement and Identifying Predictors of Activity and Function Mentor: Dominique Kinnett-Hopkins, PhD Alberto Nordmann-Gomes Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Médicas y Nutrición Salvador Zubirán Project Title: Lupus Nephritis Guidelines: Evidence Gaps and Underrepresented Groups Mentor: Juan M. Mejia-Vilet, MD, MSc, PhD Ganesh Ramanathan Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto Project Title: Brain Injury and Inflammation in Childhood-onset Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Mentor: Andrea Knight, MD, MSCE Andrew Van Horn Oregon Health & Science University Project Title: Defining the Role of NOD2 in Autoimmunity and Renal Candida Resistance Mentor: Ruth Napier, PhD Learn more about the 2024 Gina M. Finzi Memorial Student Summer Fellowship recipients, here. About the Lupus Foundation of America The Lupus Foundation of America is the national force devoted to solving the mystery of lupus, one of the world's cruelest, most unpredictable and devastating diseases, while giving caring support to those who suffer from its brutal impact. Through a comprehensive program of research, education, and advocacy, we lead the fight to improve the quality of life for all people affected by lupus. Learn more about the Lupus Foundation of America at lupus.org. For the latest news and updates, follow us on Twitter and Facebook. About Lupus Lupus is an unpredictable and misunderstood autoimmune disease that ravages different parts of the body. It is difficult to diagnose, hard to live with, and a challenge to treat. Lupus is a cruel mystery because it is hidden from view and undefined, has a range of symptoms, hits out of nowhere, and has no known cause and no known cure. Its health effects can range from a skin rash to a heart attack. Lupus is debilitating and destructive, and can be fatal, yet research on lupus remains underfunded relative to its scope and devastation. Media Contact: Mike Donnelly [email protected] SOURCE Lupus Foundation of America, Inc.

Three international research teams receive highly selective LRA Global Team Science Grants to advance ground-breaking research focusing on lupus remission, gut microbiome, and ancestry/genetics NEW YORK, Aug. 24, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Lupus Research Alliance (LRA) today announced its Global Team Science Award (GTSA) has been granted to three international research teams from 14 institutions across four continents comprised of leading experts spanning in immunology, rheumatology, neurosciences, biomedical engineering, genomics and genetics, and public health. With $3 million provided to each multidisciplinary team over three years, the GTSA supports interdisciplinary, collaborative, and highly synergistic projects that use groundbreaking technologies to accelerate effective, personalized lupus treatments. These highly prestigious awards are made possible by a generous grant from Bloomberg Philanthropies. The 2022 GTSA will enable the work of teams headed by world-renowned lupus researchers Betty Diamond, M.D., Director of the Institute of Molecular Medicine and Maureen and Ralph Nappi Professor of Autoimmune Diseases, Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, United States; Martin Kriegel, M.D., Ph.D., Chief of Rheumatology and Head of the Department of Translational Rheumatology and Immunology, University of Münster, Germany; and Eric Morand, M.D., Ph.D., Head of the School of Clinical Sciences, Monash University, Australia. "We are thrilled to add three new and exciting programs to our Global Team Science Award," said Teodora Staeva, Ph.D., LRA Chief Scientific Officer. "These three projects, selected from many compelling proposals, explore underlying causes of lupus heterogeneity and set the foundation for the future personalization of lupus treatments." Probing Heterogeneity in Immune Cell Behavior and Cognitive Function in SLE Patients in Remission The two-part project led by corresponding investigator Dr. Diamond will help understand the immune system in patients in remission. The research will focus on identifying causes of lupus heterogeneity in SLE patients in remission. Studying patients in remission, and not on immunosuppressive medications, will help the team learn the different features of immune cells in patients in remission, whether any predict relapse, and how those change when patients relapse. In the second part, the researchers aim to determine if patients in remission experience SLE-related cognitive issues and if there is an association between brain function and immune cell features. Dr. Diamond commented, "Our findings will help inform our understanding of immune cell heterogeneity in lupus patients. We also want to shed light on potential connections between immune cell abnormalities and cognitive complications, which may be an overlooked problem in SLE patients in remission." In addition to Dr. Diamond, co-principal investigators include: David Eidelberg, M.D., Susan and Leonard Feinstein Professor of Neurology and Neuroscience and Director, Center for Neurosciences, Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research, United States Hilda Fragoso-Loyo, M.D. Professor, Immunology and Rheumatology Department, National Institute of Medical Science and Nutrition Salvador Zubirán, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico David Isenberg, M.D., ARC Diamond Jubilee Professor and Academic Director of the University, Centre for Rheumatology and Bloomsbury Rheumatology Unit, University College London, United Kingdom Jimmie Chun Ye, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Medicine, Institute for Human Genetics, University of California, San Francisco, United States Identifying Gut Microbes That Trigger Human SLE via Leaky Gut Led by corresponding investigator Dr. Kriegel, this project will seek to understand the initial triggers for the misdirected immune system response that leads to lupus. The global research team will employ a comprehensive approach to uncover which microbes that escape the intestines via "leaky gut" trigger autoimmune inflammation in patients with active disease. The team will also investigate if and how transferring intestinal microbes suspected to cause or contribute to lupus in humans, triggers lupus in mice. "Our past work in mice showed that microbes living in the digestive tract can trigger damaging immune system activity if they escape from the gut. Now, we are translating our research to SLE in humans to identify microbes that cause or worsen lupus, with the ultimate goal of developing a new set of lupus diagnostics and treatments that target the 'bad' gut bacteria," said Dr. Kriegel. In addition to Dr. Kriegel, co-principal investigators include: Ilana Brito, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Mienig School of Biomedical Engineering, Cornell University, United States Eran Elinav, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Immunology, Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel and Director, Cancer-Microbiome Division, Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, Heidelberg, Germany George Tsokos, M.D., Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Chief of Rheumatology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, United States Nissan Yissachar, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, The Faculty of Life Sciences, Bar-Ilan University, Israel Identifying Ancestry-Specific Lupus Molecular Profiles that Could Uncover New Genetic Causes of SLE Corresponding investigator Dr. Morand and his team will aim to identify the distinct molecular pathways and the underlying genetics driving ancestral-specific differences in lupus symptoms. In their studies of five different ancestral groups (Europeans, Afro-Caribbean, South and East Asians, and Indigenous Australians), the team will use the latest scientific technological approaches to identify the ancestry-specific genetic variations associated with specific molecular pathways that are linked to lupus symptoms. The researchers will use advanced computational analysis of their enormous trove of data to identify potential genes that drive SLE. "Our project explores the high variation in SLE symptoms and disease severity observed among different ancestral groups. This research will generate a massive amount of data that we can use to identify potential genes that drive or promote SLE. We hope these findings will identify new targets for treating or preventing lupus," said Dr. Morand. In addition to Dr. Morand, co-principal investigators include: Emma Davenport, Ph.D., Group Leader, Functional Genomics, Wellcome Sanger Institute, United Kingdom Michael Inouye, Ph.D., Principal Research Associate in Systems Genomics and Population Health, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom James Peters, M.D., UKRI Innovation Fellow at Health Data Research UK and Clinical Reader in Rheumatology, Imperial College London, United Kingdom Timothy Vyse, Ph.D., Professor of Molecular Medicine, King's College London, United Kingdom About Lupus Lupus is a chronic, complex autoimmune disease that affects millions of people worldwide. More than 90 percent of people with lupus are women; lupus most often strikes during the childbearing years of ages 15 to 45. African Americans, Latinx, Asians, and Native Americans are two to three times at greater risk than Caucasians. In lupus, the immune system, which is designed to protect against infection, creates antibodies that can attack any part of the body including the kidneys, brain, heart, lungs, blood, skin, and joints. About the Lupus Research Alliance Global Team Science Award (GTSA) Incomplete understanding of the tremendous clinical and mechanistic heterogeneity of SLE – how it differs from person to person – remains a central challenge to developing safer and more effective treatments and to improving the standard of care for lupus patients. To address this impediment, the Lupus Research Alliance established the Global Team Science Award (GTSA) in 2020. The Award supports highly ambitious projects that build teams of established scientists from around the world to combine their expertise in diverse fields including technology, informatics (the study of information processing) immunology, and clinical research to work on a common project from distinct perspectives. It is expected that GTSA Teams will bring about breakthroughs with a high potential for transforming lupus care. About the Lupus Research Alliance The Lupus Research Alliance (LRA) is the largest non-governmental, non-profit funder of lupus research worldwide. The organization aims to transform treatment by funding the most innovative lupus research, fostering diverse scientific talent, and driving discovery toward better diagnostics, improved treatments and ultimately a cure for lupus. Because the LRA board of directors funds all administrative and fundraising costs, 100 percent of all donations supports lupus research programs.