SIU Med School Physician Receives Lupus Research Grant

A physician at SIU School of Medicine in Springfield has been awarded a three-year national grant from the Lupus Research Institute for the study of a biological treatment for lupus. Total budget for the grant is $225,000.

The study is based on the finding that a deficiency of an enzyme predisposes to the disease systemic lupus erythematosus in human patients as well as mouse models. The goal is to determine if administering this enzyme to mice with this disease prevents the disease from developing. The research has important implications for developing new treatments for the disease in humans.

Dr. Michael C. Schneider, professor of pediatrics, is the principal investigator for the project. This is the first grant awarded for his lupus research. Schneider's previous research in kidney diseases has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, the American Kidney Foundation and the March of Dimes.

Schneider joined SIU's faculty in 1999. He is board certified by the American Board of Medical Genetics. He completed a research fellowship at Yale University (1993), a clinical/molecular genetics fellowship at the Institute of Molecular Genetics at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston (1992), and a pediatric residency at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (1989). He earned his medical degree at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine (1985) and bachelor's degree at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. (1981).

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