SEATTLE, Wash. (April 28, 2015) – Perkins Coie is pleased to announce that Dr. Lucrezia Colonna, Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Rheumatology/Medicine at the University of Washington, has received the $20,000 Perkins Coie 2015 “Award for Discovery.”

Dr. Colonna plans to use the award to continue her research on investigating the protective role of intracellular complement C3, a central component of the complement system that is activated any time the system is triggered, in the prevention of lupus autoimmunity. The “Award for Discovery” is part of Perkins Coie’s commitment to support translational research at the University of Washington (UW) School of Medicine. The 2015 award to Dr. Colonna is the ninth of its kind made by Perkins Coie.

“The research Dr. Colonna and her team are conducting opens up new doors to potential medications and therapies for the treatment of lupus and other similarly characterized conditions, such as strokes, wound healing and chronic inflammation,” said Jim Lisbakken, a partner and co-chair of Perkins Coie’s Life Sciences practice. “We at Perkins Coie are honored to be involved in such an important medical advancement alongside the UW School of Medicine with the ‘Award of Discovery’ grant program.”

Lupus is a common, potentially lethal, complex autoimmune disease affecting more than 5 million patients worldwide. It has a mortality rate of approximately 5 to 10 percent. To date there is no definitive treatment for lupus and the current therapies rely on immunosuppressive drugs that need to be administered for a patient’s entire life. In an effort to develop treatments and therapies for lupus and other conditions characterized by the accumulation of dying cells in tissues, Dr. Colonna’s research focuses on why serum C3-deficient individuals do not invariably develop lupus.

“Because serum C3 deficiency is rare, Dr. Colonna and her team have already brought in collaborators from all-around the world that have expertise in complement deficiencies and have offered to share samples from C3 deficient individuals to further the research,” said John Slattery, Vice Dean, Research and Graduate Education, UW School of Medicine. With the Perkins Coie gift, Dr. Colonna will study if certain elements and behaviors are comparable in serum C3-sufficient and serum C3-deficient individuals. This research will be essential in designing new drugs and therapeutic approaches.”

About the Perkins Coie “Award for Discovery”: Since 2007, Perkins Coie has awarded a $20,000 grant each year to support new projects that will generate data to be used as a basis for larger research programs to be funded by the National Institutes of Health or other funding agencies. In 2012, Perkins Coie extended its contribution with a commitment of another $100,000 to be distributed over the following five years. Perkins Coie’s “Award of Discovery” is a part of the firm’s larger Innovative Minds grant program, which recognizes innovation and creativity in our communities.

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