The Lupus Research Institute leads the way to a cure for lupus by unleashing the scientific community’s creativity, championing innovation, and exploring uncharted territory in lupus research.  The LRI recognizes that most major breakthroughs come from unexpected directions.  The Institute fosters and supports only the highest-ranked new science to prevent, treat, and cure this chronic autoimmune disease.  Through its National Coalition, a network of national and regional leaders in major cities across America, the LRI also works with patient groups to advocate for increased research funding, spread awareness of the severity of the disease and its complications, and push for new treatments and a cure.  The Institute maintains offices in New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago. Visit the Institute at www.lupusresearchinstitute.org.

The LRI has a unique approach, marshalling private-sector financial resources to support the highest ranked new science. Its priorities are to:

* FOSTER NOVEL RESEARCH - At the core of LRI's scientific strategy is the belief that new ideas and original thinking will lead to advances in basic and clinical lupus research. Idea-driven science represents the route to desperately needed breakthroughs. Accordingly, LRI grant applicants don't need extensive preliminary data to secure a Novel Research grant. This approach differs markedly from the requirements of NIH and other traditional funding agencies.

* ACCELRATING THE DEVELOPMENT OF BIOMARKERS FOR LUPUS - The LRI is forging paths past the barriers that have hampered progress in caring for people with lupus for so long. Its most powerful tactic: backing innovative strategies for identifying, developing, and validating biomarkers (early predictors) of disease activity, damage to organs, and response to therapies. Biomarkers have proved crucial in studying and treating other complex diseases, such as HIV-AIDS. They hold the promise of significantly decreasing the time it takes to conduct a clinical trial from six years to six months, for example. Since inception, the LRI has funded 14 projects that focus on biomarkers.

* ACTIVELY RECRUIT, TRAIN AND SUPPORT INVESTIGATORS NEW TO LUPUS - It's time for new thinking--and new thinkers--in the fight against lupus. Currently there is a critical shortage of clinical bench researchers who are also rheumatologists, the primary medical specialty for lupus. These are the people who bring science from the lab to patient trials. One of the LRI's main goals is to alter this trend and inspire a new generation of investigators. Clearly, energy and creativity characterize newly minted scientists, and these qualities are especially important in battling this elusive disease.

*FORUM FOR DISCOVERY - For true advances to be realized, scientists in immunology, rheumatology, nephrology, neurology, and other specialties need to communicate with each other to share ideas and promote collaboration. The LRI encourages these players to step out of their labs and offices to share data, openly exchange ideas, and interact at an annual two-day gathering: The Forum for Discovery Scientific Conference. The Forum for Discovery has quickly become the country's foremost scientific conference on lupus--a scientific showcase of new ideas.

*ADVOCACY - One of the LRI's primary goals is to increase awareness about the need for lupus research among members of Congress, health groups, the pharmaceutical industry, and the public. In 2004 the Institute marshaled support from state and local patient organizations and formed a National Coalition.

The LRI National Coalition works to:

* Promote increased education and awareness of the seriousness of lupus and the need for increased research.

* Advocate for the eradication of lupus through vigorous public and private-supported research efforts.

* Collaborate on initiatives aimed at increasing funding for novel research in lupus.

* Empower lupus patients to actively advocate for improved treatments and a cure.

The Lupus Research Institute (LRI) was founded in 2000 to create a new research environment for lupus, a chronic autoimmune disease that has baffled scientists for nearly years. At its founding, leading scientists urged the LRI to recognize that major scientific breakthroughs come from unexpected directions. Let the science lead the way, they urged. Stay open to new ideas and allow researchers to pursue bold, potentially high-risk, yet scientifically sound hypotheses unimpeded by traditional thinking. And back it all up with rigorous peer review.

The officers and board of directors of the Lupus Research Institute are lay leaders in the lupus community, representatives of state lupus organizations, lupus scientists, and medical clinicians. All are dedicated and fully committed to conquering lupus without delay.

Margaret G. Dowd, President

Jerome A. Chazen

Jennie DeScherer

Richard K. DeScherer

C.J. Feinberg

Anita Fricklas

Susan Golick

Hope Hetherington

Thomas R. Kaplan

Stuart S. Kassan, MD, Lupus Foundation of Colorado

Robert S. Katz, MD

Jack Lavery

Diane O'Connor, Lupus Mid-Atlantic

Robert J. Ravitz

JoAnn Quinn, Lupus Alliance of America

Arthur Selkowitz

Daniel J. Wallace, MD, Lupus LA

Carol Weisman