A new community funded food allergy research grant
2 October 2020:
Ararat, a town in country Victoria, donates over $12,000 to fund The Kohen and Sage Richards Food Allergy Research Grant for 2021.
We give our warmest thanks to the community of Ararat for their generous donation of over $12,000 to the Allergy and Immunology Foundation of Australasia (AIFA). The community showed their support for research into food allergy through an online auction organised by Angie Waihape and Clare Vanina in August. Angie was motivated by her nephews Kohen and Sage who have experienced severe allergic reactions (anaphylaxis) to food.
AIFA is delighted to direct this generous donation toward food allergy research in 2021 as requested. This will be named The Kohen and Sage Richards Food Allergy Research Grant.
Angie writes: “Thanks to our amazing community, the ‘Allergies & Anaphylaxis Awareness’ Fundraiser was a huge success. With 34 generous businesses on board and a supporting community behind us we were able to smash our $10,000 goal. We sold over 3,200 raffle tickets, auctioned 10 awesome items, and received so many generous donations from people wanting to help make a difference to people who suffer with allergies. We are beyond grateful. We are very proud to donate this money to AIFA who are doing outstanding work towards finding preventions and ultimately a cure for allergies.”
Angie and her team are an inspiration. We are sure that her nieces and nephews are very proud. Thank you Ararat for this good news story!
If you are inspired by Angie and Clare’s effort, learn how you can become an AIFA community fundraiser here www.allergyimmunology.org.au/support-aifa/fundraising
We would love to hear from you. Reach out to us at
Read more …A new community funded food allergy research grant
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.
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.