AIFA News 1 Dec 2020 | Allergy and Immunology Foundation of Australasia Research Grants announced
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Allergy and Immunology Foundation of Australasia Research Grants 2020It is a great pleasure to announce that AIFA has awarded $110,000 in grants to five outstanding allergy and immunology research projects in 2020, as listed below. There are projects with great potential that still require funding so we need your support for AIFA grants in 2021. All donations are tax deductible. Medical research is expensive but everyone is now more aware of its importance. Donate here This year we are proud to fund ground-breaking research into food allergy, drug (medication) allergy, primary immunodeficiencies and hereditary angioedema (HAE).
Congratulations to all of these AIFA grant recipients and thank you to our generous donors and sponsors for making these grants possible. Thank you also to our expert grant selection panel, led by Dr Melanie Wong, who have volunteered their time in an extremely busy and challenging year. Why are we here? We are here because we believe in science. Science that may help develop new tests and treatments for people with allergy and other immune diseases. We want the science behind the immune system to get noticed (COVID-19 went a long way to doing that for us). We also want to support the researchers who have a great idea and need their study to get started. Five years ago, AIFA awarded its first grants. It was a modest beginning but we have a big mission. New ideas to treat food allergy. New ideas to diagnose drug allergy. New ideas to help people with immune deficiency. AIFA has always had the health and well-being of patients with allergy and other immune diseases at the forefront of everything we do. Whether you are a young boy selling plants on his front lawn, a teenager shaving her head, a man riding his bicycle from Sydney to Melbourne, a lady running an online auction in lockdown Victoria or a multinational corporation, you have helped us achieve this mission. We salute you. We are proud that many of the research projects that AIFA has supported are pilot studies, which means this is the first time they get lift off. Who knows how far they will fly? They have passed rigorous examination in a very competitive field, and our selection panel think they have what it takes. The next step may be a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) grant? To date, three research projects funded by AIFA have gone on to gain NHMRC funding which reflects the high quality research that is funded by AIFA. |
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Allergy and Immunology Foundation of Australasia (AIFA) foundation@allergy.org.au Suite 29, 117 Old Pittwater Road Brookvale NSW 2100 PO Box 450 Balgowlah NSW 2093 Australia Registered as a charity ABN: 45 615 521 452 All donations are tax deductible |
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www.allergyimmunology.org.au Contact |  
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AIFA Food Allergy Research Grant of $40,000: Awarded to A/Prof Kirsten Perrett for testing the effectiveness of oral immunotherapy for young children with nut allergy. Her study may be the first step toward achieving the vision of eradicating food allergy before school age.
AIFA Food Allergy Research Grant of $10,000 (supported by DBV Technologies): Awarded to Dr Vicki McWilliam, who aims to prevent the development of long-term cow’s milk allergy in children. She will trial using a milk ladder, that involves introducing milk in small and increasing doses.
AIFA Allergy/Immunology Research Grant $30,000: Awarded to Dr Catarina Almeida and Dr Jason Trubiano for a study of “Natural Killer T Cells” to improve current tests for drug allergy, policy for drug administration, and the development of new immune-based therapies.
AIFA Primary Immunodeficiencies Clinical Research Grant of $15,000 (supported by CSL Behring): Awarded to Dr Celina Jin, who will lead a multi-centre trial evaluating typhoid Vi-polysaccharide vaccine responses in patients with specific antibody deficiency. This will help identify which patients are most likely to benefit from long-term immunoglobulin replacement.
AIFA Hereditary Angioedema (HAE) Clinical Research Grant of $15,000 (supported by CSL Behring): Awarded to Dr William Smith, who will conduct a state-wide survey of patients with HAE in South Australia. This will determine the prevalence of HAE as well as severity, impact on quality of life, and unmet needs, particularly in the prevention of angioedema attacks. 
