Call for Nominations: Common Mechanisms in Autoimmunity Insight Awards 2025

Objective 

• Proposals are sought from academic or industry applicants for novel one-year pilot studies to investigate a mechanism underlying autoimmune disease, identify novel targets or mechanisms of autoimmune pathogenesis, validate therapeutic targets, or provide proof of concept for an innovative therapeutic strategy. Through the Insight Awards, Breakthrough T1D, Lupus Research Alliance, and the National MS Society seek to co-fund projects that will obtain more specific insights into the commonalities and differences of immune pathways that govern autoimmune disease processes and lay the groundwork for bringing together investigators from across autoimmune fields and disciplines.

Purpose 

• Breakthrough T1D, Lupus Research Alliance, and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society are jointly seeking applications from investigators across autoimmune and other relevant fields to advance the understanding of autoimmunity and to obtain insights into commonalities and differences of the immune pathways that govern autoimmune processes. The purpose of the Common Mechanisms in Autoimmunity Insight Awards is to establish proof-of-concept research toward the collaborative advancement of innovative ideas and therapeutic approaches that address needs and knowledge gaps across multiple autoimmune diseases.

Focus Areas

• Proposals can include any project that focuses on:
  • Establishing proof of concept for a hypothesized mechanism driving pathogenesis across multiple autoimmune diseases
  • Establishing proof of concept for a particular immune pathway common to multiple autoimmune diseases as a potential therapeutic target.

Funding Information

• Open to domestic and foreign non-profit organisations (public and private), applicants may request budgets of up to $150,000 for 1 year, which includes up to 10% indirect costs.

Eligible Projects

• Priority consideration will be given to research proposals that:
  • Seek to provide proof of concept for the repurposing of an approved drug or therapy from one autoimmune disease into related autoimmune diseases.
  • Seek mechanistic understanding of shared and different therapeutic responses among autoimmune diseases
  • Identify and validate biomarkers of disease progression, therapeutic response or predictive biomarkers using human samples that are applicable to multiple autoimmune diseases.
  • Utilize primary human samples or reuse data from previously analyzed human samples.
  • Investigate and compare/contrast heterogeneity across multiple autoimmune diseases, especially with use of large, shared and/or harmonized data sets.
  • Conduct multi-omics analysis of common and distinct immune pathways among multiple autoimmune diseases.
  • Establish a protocol or SOP for best practices in information sharing and collaboration across autoimmune diseases, including how samples should be collected, and how data should be collected and analyzed to facilitate optimal analysis of commonalities and differences of autoimmune diseases.

Ineligible Projects

• Proposals that will not be considered under this RFA include:
  • Studies that do not focus on pathways or targets associated with at least two of the relevant autoimmune diseases.
  • Studies that propose clinical trials (although studies using clinical samples are acceptable).
  • Studies that outline experimental plans that will require longer than 1 year to complete.

Eligibility Criteria

• Applications may be submitted by domestic and foreign non-profit organizations, public and private, such as universities, colleges, hospitals, laboratories, units of state and local governments, and eligible agencies of the federal government.
• Applicants must hold an M.D., D.M.D, D.V.M., Ph.D., or equivalent and have a faculty position or equivalent at a college, university, medical school, or other research facility.
• There are no citizenship requirements for this program. To assure continued excellence and diversity among applicants and awardees, Breakthrough T1D, Lupus Research Alliance, and the National MS Society welcome applications from all qualified individuals and encourage applications from persons with disabilities, women, and members of minority groups underrepresented in the sciences.

Review Criteria

• Applications will be evaluated by the Steering Committee and an external scientific review panel based on Breakthrough T1D’s standard confidentiality policy and according to the following criteria:
  • Significance
  • Approach
  • Innovation
  • Investigator Experience
  • Environment

For more information, visit Breakthrough T1D UK.