Centre for Immunology and Allergy Research

Led by Adjunct Associate Professor Joanne Reed, the Centre for Immunology and Allergy Research (CIAR) aims to understand the molecular and cellular mechanisms that drive autoimmune, viral and neurological disease, with the ultimate goal of developing effective preventative strategies or treatments that cure disease.

Our research focus

  • Amyloid disease
  • COVID-19
  • Influenza and other causes of sepsis and pneumonia
  • Psoriasis and other inflammatory skin diseases (e.g. dermatitis and eczema)
  • Inflammatory Bowel Disease (e.g. Crohn’s disease, Ulcerative Colitis, Coeliac disease)
  • Multiple Sclerosis
  • Immune contributions to psychiatric disease
  • Motor Neurone Disease
  • Spinal cord injury
  • Immunobullous autoimmune diseases
  • Sjögren’s disease
  • Systemic Lupus Erythematosus
  • Tumour immunology

Research groups within this centre

Autoimmunity and Amyloidosis Group

GROUP HEADS

Joanne Reed

GROUP MEMBERS

Neuroinflammation Research Group

GROUP MEMBERS

Autoinflammatory Diseases Group

GROUP HEADS

Andrew Harman, Scott Byrne

GROUP MEMBERS

Immunogenetics Group

GROUP HEADS

Grant Parnell

GROUP MEMBERS

Precision Genomics in Intensive Care Medicine Research Group

GROUP HEADS

Maryam Shojaei

GROUP MEMBERS

Translational Dementia Research Group

GROUP HEADS

Caitlin Finney

GROUP MEMBERS

Recent achievements

Grant Success for CIAR

In the last year, members of CIAR have been awarded over $5million in competitive funding grants to continue their research endeavors. A/Prof Joanne Reed received an NHMRC Investigator Leadership grant, Profs Andrew Harman and Scott Byrne NHMRC Ideas Grant and an NHMRC Development Grant to Scott Byrne. Dr. Caitlin Finney’s Dementia Australia grant was the top-rated application across Australia. PhD students Dr. Adrian Lee was awarded an AIFA Early Career Research Grant and Lara Glass an Arthritis Australia postgraduate student scholarship.

A new test to identify patients with COVID-19 in need of life-saving treatment

CIAR’s Dr. Maryam Shojaei and her team have developed a new test that identifies which patients with COVID-19 will develop a secondary bacterial infection, the leading cause of why people deteriorate after COVID-19 infection. Current tests to detect secondary bacterial infections are time-consuming and unreliable. The new test detects early warning signs from the immune system of bacterial infection to provide rapid and accurate information to enable early treatment. This work was published in Lancet Microbe (2024).

A global study uncovering genetic insights into multiple sclerosis

CIAR’s Dr. Grant Parnell and our past Director, Prof Graeme Stewart are part of the International Multiple Sclerosis Genetics Consortium, that have analysed genetic risk factors in over 12,000 patients with multiple sclerosis. The team’s findings, published in Nature (2023) identify new genetic variants and other factors that correlate with disease outcomes and severity and provide clues to understand disease mechanisms and enable precision treatments.

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