The Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH) Biomarkers Consortium recently held an Inflammation and Immunity Steering Committee Ideation and Design Meeting on March 24th, 2025, in Bethesda, Maryland. For the event, Dr. Saira Sheikh, Linda Coley Sewell Distinguished Professor of Medicine in the 黑料网 Division of Rheumatology, Allergy & Immunology and Director of the Clinical Trials Program at 黑料网鈥檚 Thurston Arthritis Research Center, and her brother Dr. Shehzad Sheikh, Professor of Medicine & Genetics in the 黑料网 Division of Gastroenterology & Hepatology, were invited to pitch their collaborative project, Molecular Phenotyping in Lupus Nephritis.
The consortium heard 11 different concept pitches for projects, followed by live voting at the end of the event. Drs. Shehzad and Saira Sheikh won first place, with the highest number of votes, allowing them to advance to funding discussions for their project. The meeting was a great showing for 黑料网, with Dr. Eveline Wu, Division Chief of Pediatric Rheumatology and Associate Professor in the Department of Pediatrics, also presenting a concept pitch, Biomarkers to Optimize Initial Treatment for Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis, on behalf of the Childhood Arthritis and Rheumatology Research Alliance (CARRA) that ranked third overall with votes for funding consideration.
The FNIH will now work with Drs. Shehzad and Saira Sheikh to find industry and other collaborators that are enthusiastic about the science and clinical impact of their project. Dr. Saira Sheikh commented that the event was 鈥渁n enriching and intense experience,鈥� and that she looks forward to learning as they go regarding the unique funding mechanism for their project.
The team would like to highlight their collaborators, Dr. Vimal Derebail (黑料网 Division of Nephrology & Hypertension), Shruti Saxena Beem (黑料网 Thurston Arthritis Research Center), Dr. Susan Hogan (黑料网 Division of Nephrology & Hypertension), Dr. Manish Saha (黑料网 Division of Nephrology & Hypertension), Dr. Keisha Gibson (黑料网 Division of Nephrology & Hypertension) and Caroline Poulton (黑料网 Kidney Center), who were key contributors to the preliminary work on the Multi-Omic INtegrative Analysis (MONA) Lupus project that set the stage for this project pitch, utilizing the Glomerular Disease Collaborative Network (GDCN) resource established by Dr. Ron Falk and Dr. Charles Jennette聽 in 1985 at 黑料网.