Posted: 14 November 2024
Associate Professor Sarah Jones from the School of Clinical Sciences at Monash Health is one of five researchers worldwide and the only Australian researcher to receive an inaugural Translational Bridge Award from the Lupus Research Alliance (LRA) in New York, United States.
The award was established to accelerate the translation of groundbreaking research into potential treatments and diagnostics for lupus. The award aims to propel high-potential projects from LRA-funded foundational discoveries with strong commercialisation potential or an opportunity for clinical evaluation.
Providing up to USD$450,000 over two years, the Translational Bridge Award is a key initiative of LRA’s newly developed Research Roadmap, an ambitious research strategy designed to integrate LRA’s efforts across all stages of lupus research, from early discovery through clinical application. By funding innovative, milestone-driven projects with strong commercial or clinical potential, the award will drive scientific advances that can be quickly moved from the lab to the clinic.
Associate Professor Jones will investigate a pioneering alternative to glucocorticoids. Glucocorticoids (steroids), though widely used to control inflammation in lupus and many other autoimmune diseases, come with serious side effects that can worsen patients’ overall health. Associate Professor Jones aims to develop a new treatment that would boost a protein called GILZ (Glucocorticoid-Induced Leucine Zipper), which offers the anti-inflammatory properties of glucocorticoids without their harmful side effects. This research could pave the way for a safer, more effective anti-inflammatory treatment, shifting the paradigm of how lupus and other autoimmune diseases are managed.
The funding builds on Associate Professor Jones’ recent award of a further $500k funding from Brandon BioCatalyst’s CUREator incubator for her biotech startup, GILZRx and also builds on research previously acknowledged with the LRA’s 2015 Distinguished Innovator Award.
Associate Professor Jones said that she was honoured to be one of the inaugural Translational Bridge Award recipients. “The Lupus Research Alliance is an impressive organisation that makes real change for lupus patients by finding and supporting research they believe in,” she said. “I’m delighted that LRA shares our vision for a new medicine targeting GILZ.”
Dr Aoife Cullen, Head of Commercialisation (Life Science) of Monash Innovation congratulated Sarah and her team on the well-deserved recognition. “This award underscores the significance and promise of Sarah’s research,” she said. “It will further translate this opportunity from research to the reality of a new lupus therapy.“
