Funded Research

Our comprehensive grant program attracts top scientific talent to the field and provides opportunities for researchers to pursue the novel ideas as well as to advance proven approaches that improve treatment. We are helping to advance fundamentals through translational and clinical research.

In addition to funding lupus research, the Lupus Research Alliance recognizes, through the Lupus Insight Prize, critical discoveries in the research areas relevant to the development and progression or treatment of lupus. These key findings, or insights, have a high likelihood of generating further significant advances by applying the insight to lupus. View our current and past funded research.

Global Team Science Award (GTSA)

The Global Team Science Award ($3 million over three years) supports interdisciplinary, collaborative, and highly synergistic projects that push the boundaries of innovation and bridge research and clinical efforts in lupus.
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Distinguished Innovator Award (DIA)

The Distinguished Innovator Award (DIA) ($1 million over four years) provides outstanding scientists with substantial support to conduct novel research into the fundamental causes of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).
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Translational Bridge Award

The Translational Bridge Award (TBA) ($450,000 over 2 years) provides funding to bridge the gap between post-discovery and pre-commercial development and to accelerate the pace at which promising LRA-funded foundational research discoveries are translated into clinical evaluation and transitioned to a viable product that impacts patients directly.
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Lupus Mechanisms and Targets Award (LMTA)

The Lupus Mechanisms and Targets Award (LMTA) ($600,000 for three years) supports research focused on the identification and/or investigation of molecular pathways or targets that could lead to new or improved therapies for people with lupus.
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Diversity in Lupus Research Career Development Award

The Diversity in Lupus Research Career Development Award ($600,000 over four years) supports outstanding early-career underrepresented minority scientists to establish a competitive independent research program in the lupus research area.
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Lupus Innovation Award (LIA)

The Lupus Innovation Award (LIA) ($300,000 for two years) provides early-stage support for highly innovative approaches to major challenges in lupus research.
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LRA-BMS Accelerator Awards (BMS)

The Lupus Research Alliance (LRA)-Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) Accelerator Award ($300,000 for two years) is a collaborative project with sponsoring partner BMS supporting research on  understanding human lupus heterogeneity and identifying novel biomarkers.
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Common Mechanisms in Autoimmunity

The Common Mechanisms in Autoimmunity grants ($500,000 for two years or $225,000 for one year) support innovative research exploring commonalities and differences of immune pathways that govern multiple autoimmune diseases.
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Diversity in Lupus Research Postdoctoral Award

The Diversity in Lupus Research Postdoctoral Award ($170,000 over 2 years) supports qualified and promising underrepresented minority scientists to generate scientific data and unique research ideas necessary to ultimately transition to an independent lupus researcher role.
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Diversity in Lupus Research Administrative Supplement

The Diversity in Lupus Research Administrative Supplement (up to $30,000 for up to two years) supports promising underrepresented minority trainees working with LRA-funded researchers or lupus investigators supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Department of Defense (DOD), or equivalent grants in good standing.
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