Celebrate the act of giving
28 June 2022
The end of the financial year is a time to celebrate the act of giving. With your help, the Allergy and Immunology Foundation of Australasia (AIFA) supports research teams who are unravelling the working of the immune system to improve diagnosis, develop new treatments and achieve better health outcomes for people living with allergy and other immune disease.
AIFA is now fundraising for 2023 research grants. You can be a part of supporting Australasian allergy and immunology researchers with your tax deductible donation. Every dollar goes directly into research, not administration or marketing costs.
To follow our work, read about the projects AIFA has supported here or sign up for our newsletter.
Researchers who were awarded AIFA grants in 2020 will present an update on their progress at the ASCIA Conference in Melbourne on 1st September, 2022. For program details and registration visit www.ascia2022.com
AIFA is dedicated to advancing knowledge of the human immune system. We are supporting innovative research for improved diagnosis, novel treatments and better health outcomes for people with allergy and other immune disease. We are encouraging early career researchers with projects that have the potential to translate to progress in clinical care.
The AIFA Food Allergy Research Grant of $40,000 was awarded to A/Prof Kirsten Perrett for testing the effectiveness of oral immunotherapy for young children with nut allergy. Her “Low dose Multi-Nut OIT in Preschoolers (LMNOP) Pilot Study” is the first step toward achieving the vision of eradicating food allergy before school age. A/Prof Perrett works at the Murdoch Children's Research Institute (MCRI) in Melbourne. 
Dr Vicki McWilliam, who also works at MCRI, was awarded the AIFA Food Allergy Research Grant (supported by DBV Technologies) of $10,000. Her project “Is early introduction of milk via a slow and graded milk ladder approach feasible and acceptable for infants with mild/moderate cow’s milk allergy?” has the potential to prevent the development of long-term cow’s milk allergy in children. 
AIFA awarded a grant of $30,000 to Dr Catarina Dos Santos Sa E Almeida at the University of Melbourne who will work with Dr Jason Trubiano at Austin Health to study “Altered self-reactivity of CD1d-lipid restricted NKT cells by sulfa-like drugs”. This could lead to the improvement of current tests for drug allergy, policy for drug administration, and the development of new immune-based therapies. 
The AIFA Primary Immunodeficiencies Clinical Research Grant of $15,000 (supported by CSL Behring) will be awarded to Dr Celina Jin at The Royal Melbourne Hospital. Dr Jin will be evaluating how specific antibody deficiency patients (who have impaired immune function) receiving immunoglobulin replacement react to a typhoid vaccine (Vi-polysaccharide vaccine). 
Dr William Smith was awarded the AIFA Hereditary Angioedema (HAE) Clinical Research Grant of $15,000 (supported by CSL Behring). Dr Smith, who is based at the Royal Adelaide Hospital, 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. 
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.