How fast can we get to treatments and cures?

We hope you are as excited as us about the recently announced new GRI Research Accelerator Fund (GRAF) that CureGRIN will use to invest into the most promising research to find cures and treatments for GRIN, GRIA, GRIK and GRID Disorders. Thanks to the passion of our family fundraisers and the generosity of our donors, we’re confident we will be able to provide at least $750,000 in research grants in our first round of funding beginning this May.

We’ve got the plan.

In 2021 CureGRIN brought together families, researchers, clinicians and biotech to identify 10 “essential questions” that need to be answered in order to find cures and treatments for GRI Disorder. Questions such as whether a cure is possible at any age. This first wave of funding will set the pace for GRI research and tackle as many of the 10 essential questions as possible.

Researchers are ready to go. But we still need more funding.

CureGRIN has built a global network of 100+ scientists. These researchers are standing by to help make it happen. But research is expensive. They need our help to get started on the next big phase of research for our GRI community. 

There will be many new and exciting opportunities to make advancements towards treatments and cures for the first time. While $750,000 will help us make great strides, we know we’ll need to say “no” to critical research opportunities without more funds to invest. We need your help to grow the GRAF to at least $1 million so we can say “yes” to the right investment opportunities.

How fast we get there depends on us.

We share a common goal to find treatments and cures for our loved ones as quickly as possible. Hundreds of families have told us this. Yet 90% of funds raised to date are from the efforts of less than 50 GRI families. This is great news because it means that hundreds of families have the potential to help raise additional support, so we can fund more research faster.

Family support is already moving the needle.

We have come so far in such a short period of time. Thanks to our fundraising families and supporters, CureGRIN is funding crucial research projects including:

• Functional Analysis tests that help determine if variants are gain-of-function or loss-of-function. This testing is necessary to identify possible treatments for each variant.
• Research into possible gene-based cures that will be tested on mice ahead of potential human trials.
• Development of a cell bank with patient-derived research models

CureGRIN relies on families for fundraising and donations.

We are fortunate to have received support from Chan Zuckerberg Initiative for building our Collaborative Research Network, which provides funding for crucial infrastructure and support such as hiring the best science advisors and dedicated staff to run CureGRIN programs. We would not be where we are today with this opportunity. But these restricted funds cannot be used on research programs. It’s still up to us families to fund research for this generation. There is no one else. No companies, government or institutions will do this work.

The best time to fundraise or donate is now.

March is GRI Disorder Awareness month. We will be launching a new Count Me In – GRIA, GRIK and GRIN campaign to give those who weren’t able to participate last year, the opportunity to be a GRI Champion.

 Every single campaign, big and small, moves our entire GRI community towards treatments and cures.  

We have tools that make fundraising easy. Whether you prefer to send a private email or letter, use social media or both! We will share simple tips on how to make your campaign a success. It only takes a few minutes to set up a personalized campaign and get started.