Cures through Collaboration: Funding a Team Approach to Disease Research
Both the Guthy-Jackson Charitable Foundation (GJCF) and the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) share a similar vision for funding a team approach to disease research. When Victoria Jackson’s daughter, Ali, was diagnosed with NMO – a rare incurable disease that can lead to blindness, paralysis and even death – Jackson created the GJCF and insisted that funded researchers share their data and collaborate towards finding a cure. Similarly, CIRM has established the Disease Teams Therapy Development Awards that require actively managed multidisciplinary teams to engage in milestone driven research for the development of stem cell-based therapies. The hope is that these funding approaches will accelerate the discovery of cures through more efficient collaboration between scientists of varying expertise.