Lupus Therapeutics, the medical affiliate of the Lupus Analysis Alliance (LRA), at the moment introduced a pioneering funding mechanism to handle probably the most widespread questions on lupus medical care and administration. The IDEAL (Investigate Dietary Approaches for Lupus) Initiative was established to fund pilot medical research assessing the impression of weight loss program intervention on the lived expertise of lupus and to handle the void of well-controlled research on this space. The initiative goals to reinforce lupus care by figuring out a easy, sensible and accessible dietary strategy that advantages individuals with lupus.
The impression of weight loss program and the microbiome on lupus improvement and development has been an space of immense curiosity for researchers and people residing with lupus. Whereas there have been some constructive and productive assessments of weight loss program and microbiome in different therapeutic areas, research in lupus have been largely preliminary and preclinical. Over 10 years in the past, the LRA funded the primary research on the function of the microbiome in lupus and has continued to assist analysis on this space and led key boards to spearhead subsequent steps for bringing analysis to these residing with lupus. There stay many unanswered questions relating to the mechanistic features of lupus, together with the connection of the illness to the microbiome and environmental elements, however the IDEAL Initiative has the potential to offer some perception for these features.
The IDEAL Initiative was created to reply questions amongst researchers, clinicians, and people residing with lupus wanting to unlock new insights on how weight loss program and the microbiome impression lupus administration and illness course. With the experience within the lupus group and the rising data in regards to the mechanistic side of lupus, Lupus Therapeutics is optimistic {that a} strong, multi-disciplinary analysis strategy will render strong outcomes that might be extrapolated into a bigger analysis of interventions and care methods which have the potential to boost affected person outcomes and high quality of life.”
Stacie Bell, Govt Vice President of Lupus Therapeutics
Fashioned after convening and gathering suggestions from an knowledgeable steering committee, the IDEAL Initiative will fund a pilot proof-of-concept medical research to guage the impression of weight loss program on lupus. Proposals should embrace a multi-disciplinary (doubtlessly multi-institutional) crew strategy, with at the very least two disciplines within the proposed mission. The specified result’s a medical final result or scientific mechanism somewhat than dietary steerage, though the research could inform the event of dietary steerage.
“The IDEAL Initiative is a direct response to the analysis group’s name for medical research in an rising space of unmet want,” stated Teodora Staeva, PhD, Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer, Lupus Analysis Alliance. “The LRA continues to champion modern funding mechanisms that can deal with urgent wants in lupus analysis. This initiative is one in every of a number of new LRA funding alternatives that would lead in the direction of new care approaches for individuals with lupus.”
The IDEAL initiative will present as much as $500,000 over two years to fund a scientifically primarily based, well-controlled small medical pilot research. The intent is to fund as much as two awards at $500,000 every. All research ought to have a transparent and direct relevance to individuals with lupus and will supply the potential to enhance normal of care and the each day lived expertise. Precedence might be given to initiatives that additionally align with LRA strategic analysis priorities of defining human lupus heterogeneity by molecular pathology to stratify sufferers by energetic illness mechanisms and integrating the analysis continuum to deliver advances to sufferers. It’s essential for the IDEAL-funded mission to maintain sufferers on the middle and useful to incorporate sufferers as analysis companions.
A two-stage software course of might be employed.
- January 8, 2025, 11:59 pm ET– Letter of Intent (LOI) due: A 3-page LOI might be used to guage the innovation, significance, and alignment of the proposed mission with the IDEAL funding mechanism.
- March 28, 2025, 11:59 pm ET – Full Software Due: Candidates whose LOIs efficiently go this primary overview stage might be invited to submit a full software within the second stage of the applying course of with additional directions offered at the moment.
