Congratulations to Dr Emily Edwards on AIFA grant award

Dr Emily Edwards has won a $30,000 grant from AIFA for
research on Primary Immunodeficiencies and SARS-CoV-2

Congratulations to Dr Emily Edwards on winning the Allergy and Immunology Foundation of Australasia (AIFA) Primary Immunodeficiencies (PID) Clinical Research Grant of $30,000 (supported by CSL Behring) this year. Emily is an active advocate for PID as AusPIPS Vice President.

Dr Edwards' grant is titled, "Antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 in immunoglobulin products and their capacity to augment immunity in immunodeficient patients", and she leads a team including researchers from Alfred Health, Monash University and the Burnet Institute, with collaboration from the patient organisation AusPIPs and the Australian Red Cross Lifeblood. 

Scientist seeks clues on ‘missing’ parts of immune system: Rare Disease Day feature

L-R: Patient advocate Nadine and CCS researcher Dr Emily
Edwards talk about the experience of living with the illness and the
challenges of research into the disease. See video (2:05 mins)

Part of our special series for Rare Disease Day featuring patient advocates and CCS researchers

Dr Emily Edwards, a Research Fellow with the Monash Department of Immunology and Pathology at The Alfred precinct, is working to uncover the DNA errors or genetic variants that cause Primary Immunodeficiency (PID), a rare inherited condition where part of the immune system is missing or not functioning as it should.

Why is a third COVID-19 vaccine dose important for people who are immunocompromised?

by Dr Emily Edwards and Dr Kylie Quinn
Reproduced from The Conversation

Hear them discuss the topic on ABC radio (3 Sept)

A number of countries including the United States and the United Kingdom are moving to make a third dose of COVID-19 vaccine available to people who are immunocompromised.

But why are people with weaker immune systems at the front of the queue for a third dose?

Researchers drill deep to find T cell defect in antibody deficiency disease

Dr Emily Edwards (first author) and 

A/Prof Menno van Zelm (last author) 

by Anne Crawford

Patients with predominantly antibody deficiency (PAD) suffer from severe and recurrent infections that disrupt their lives and which require lifelong treatment. Added to this, up to 70% of these patients develop non-infectious complications (NIC) including autoimmunity, autoinflammation, gastrointestinal disease, and lymphoid malignancies, which are difficult to treat, putting them at risk of high morbidity and early mortality. PAD represents the largest group of primary immunodeficiencies (PIDs), affecting about 1 in 25,000 people worldwide.