High Risk to Solid Results

The Lupus Research Institute (LRI) was founded in 2000 to create a bold new research environment for lupus, a disease that has baffled scientists for more than 40 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.

Since its inception 8 years ago, the LRI has awarded 85 grants for novel research in lupus at 51 academic and medical centers across the nation—a total of $23 million—making it the source of the largest and widest range of privately funded research investigations in lupus.

Because of the LRI, novel lupus research is moving forward. And quickly. Already, the Institute’s investment of $9 million from 2001 to 2004 has turned into a remarkable $35 million in new grant funding from the NIH and other sources.