Another AIFA grant recipient receives NHMRC funding
14 July 2020:
For the third time since the Allergy and Immunology Foundation of Australasia (AIFA) started funding research grants in 2015, we are proud to announce that an AIFA grant recipient has received National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) funding.
Dr Sidonia Eckle, who was awarded an AIFA grant in 2019, has been awarded $620,205 in an Emerging Leadership Award from the NHMRC in 2020. The NHMRC recognises excellence in the health and medical research sector and celebrates leadership and outstanding contributions to the sector through its biennial awards.
Dr Eckle, who works at The Doherty Institute in Melbourne states, “I’m grateful for the support of the NHMRC Investigator Grant to further our understanding of the importance of Mucosal-Associated Invariant T cells (MAIT) cells in protective and aberrant immunity. Along with assistance from The University of Melbourne and other grants, this investment will allow me to deepen our knowledge of this field and grow my research programme within Professor Jim McCluskey’s lab.”
Read more about the project here
This is the third time that a recipient of an AIFA grant has progressed to receive NHMRC recognition:
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Dr Janet Davies received NHMRC funding in 2016 for her AusPollen project (AIFA grant awarded in 2015).
Pollen Allergen Partnership -
Dr Marcia Munoz received NHMRC funding in 2018 for her work on the autoimmune disease mevalonate kinase deficiency or MKD (AIFA grant awarded in 2017).
Childhood Autoinflammatory Disease
AIFA grants enable researchers to progress a new project in allergy and immunology research, and are a valuable step in future applications for larger grants.
We are very proud of the AIFA track record and we are glad that Dr Eckle could be one of the AIFA grant recipients to progress with NHMRC funding.
Read more …Another AIFA grant recipient receives NHMRC funding
In recognition that many potential AIFA grant applicants have less discretionary time in 2020 due to the demands from COVID-19, the AIFA grant EOI deadline (previously 15 April 2020) has been deferred.
The Australasian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy (ASCIA) has developed information and guidance regarding COVID-19. 
5 March 2020
16 October 2019
The AIFA Food Allergy Research Grant of $40,000 was awarded to Dr Sidonia Eckle who will study how mucosal-associated invariant T (MAIT) cells affect food allergies. Dr Eckle works at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, University of Melbourne. 
The AIFA Food Allergy Research Grant of $10,000 (supported by DBV Technologies) was awarded to Dr Rachel Peters for her research: “Does the resolution of vitamin D deficiency in food allergic infants predict the resolution of food allergy?” Dr Peters works at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, Melbourne. 
In celebration of ASCIA’s 30th Anniversary, AIFA awarded a $30,000 grant to Dr Jason Trubiano, to help establish the Australian Registry of Severe Cutaneous Adverse Reactions (AUS-SCAR) for severe drug allergy. Dr Trubiano is based at Austin Health in Melbourne. 
We are excited to announce that the first AIFA Primary Immunodeficiency Clinical Research Grant of $25,000 (supported by CSL Behring), was awarded to Dr Tri Giang Phan at the Garvan Institute, Sydney. Dr Phan will be using machine-learning to improve the diagnosis of Primary Immunodeficiency Diseases. 
Another new initiative is the AIFA Hereditary Angioedema Clinical Research Grant of $15,000 (supported by CSL Behring). Dr Samantha Chan is the first recipient of this grant, and her project is “Improving the diagnostic utility of next-generation sequencing in Hereditary Angioedema”. Dr Chan is part of a team based at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research. 
11 June 2019