Lupus is a chronic, multi-organ, autoimmune disease that can be more severe and debilitating when diagnosed in childhood. There are proteins and cells in the blood of children with lupus that do not function properly and can interact with each other to cause inflammation. We propose to look more closely at these proteins and cells to understand how inflammation develops in lupus patients. I will collect blood from children with lupus and healthy children. I will extract cells, stain them with a special color that labels them and then sort these cells based on their color. Then I will look at different proteins inside these cells to see if there is any difference in healthy children. Our hope is that by understanding the cause of inflammation in lupus, we can create new medicines to treat lupus in children.