Ann Marshak-Rothstein, PhD, a professor of Medicine/Rheumatology at the University of Massachusetts Medical received the 2016 Lupus Insight Prize for her research on cutaneous lupus.

The award was announced at FOCIS 2016, the 16th Annual Meeting of the Federation of Clinical Immunology Societies (FOCIS). The Lupus Insight Prize is a collaborative initiative among the Alliance for Lupus Research (ALR), the Lupus Foundation of America and the Lupus Research Institute (LRI).  The $200,000 Prize recognizes a major, novel insight and/or discovery that has the promise to change scientific thinking about lupus as well as a high likelihood of generating further advances in the understanding, diagnosis and treatment of the disease.

Dr. Marshak-Rothstein generated a mouse model with symptoms that mimic cutaneous lupus. With the Lupus Insight Prize, she will be able investigate the role of two specific Toll-like receptors, TLR9 and TLR7, on different types of cells.

"I am pleased to accept this year's Lupus Insight Prize which enables my team to continue research aimed at understanding the role of specific innate immune receptors in the regulation of lupus pathogenesis and advancing more effective and less debilitating treatments for both cutaneous lupus and related rheumatologic diseases," saysMarshak-Rothstein, in a news release. "Looking at the disease symptoms in animal models, we will explore the role of the sun's UV radiation, why the skin is attacked by the body's immune system and evaluate potential new therapies."