The Common Mechanisms in Autoimmunity Initiative is a new joint research initiative established by Breakthrough T1D, the Lupus Research Alliance and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society to support research investigating the underlying commonalities of autoimmune diseases and accelerate the advancement of novel therapeutic strategies.

The initiative aims to encourage and support research and collaboration across disciplines and research areas to combine resources, reduce redundant scientific enquiry and accelerate the rate of research and discovery to overcome the challenges of developing therapies and potential cures for multiple autoimmune diseases.

Applications are invited for the first round of the Common Mechanisms Insight Awards, which will fund novel one-year pilot studies to investigate the mechanisms underlying autoimmune diseases, identify novel targets or mechanisms of autoimmune pathogenesis, validate therapeutic targets, or provide proof of concept for an innovative therapeutic strategy. The awards are a maximum of $150,000 and will be funded through the Breakthrough T1D Strategic Research Agreement funding mechanism.

Proposals can include any project that focuses on:

• Establishing proof of concept for a hypothesised 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.

All project proposals should be relevant to multiple autoimmune diseases, and must incorporate at least two of the diseases represented by the Common Mechanisms Initiative partners (multiple sclerosis, systemic lupus erythematosus (or one of its manifestations), and type 1 diabetes). Projects should be designed to provide proof of concept data that can be used for the downstream development of larger, multi-year collaborative projects if successful.

Applications may be submitted by non-profit organisations and public and private entities, including universities, colleges, hospitals, laboratories, and government research facilities. Applicants must hold an MD, DMD, DVM, PhD, or equivalent degree, and hold a faculty position or equivalent at a college, university, medical school or other research facility. Applications from for-profit entities or academic/industry collaborations are also eligible.

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.
• Utilise primary human samples or reuse data from previously analysed human samples.
• Investigate and compare/contrast heterogeneity across multiple autoimmune diseases, especially with use of large, shared and/or harmonised 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 analysed to facilitate optimal analysis of commonalities and differences of autoimmune diseases.

(This Bulletin item was the subject of a ResearchConnect news alert.)