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RESEARCH
I
n the summer 2015 we once again invited researchers to submit
their proposals for funding. We received 14 interesting and varied
applications covering a range of research areas, which could help to
improve the lives of people living with coeliac disease.
All applications were screened for completeness and then reviewed by
two or more independent experts working in that research area, and our
Member Review Panel. All the scores were collated and the best applications
were discussed by our Health Advisory Council at a meeting last November.
Three research projects were selected and presented to our Board of
Governors for funding approval.
RESEARCH GRANT
AWARDS IN 2015
The three newly funded projects are:
The role of avenin specific
immune cells in oat toxicity
in coeliac disease
Oats contain a protein, avenin, which is
not the same but similar to the protein,
gluten, found in wheat. An international
team of researchers has explored the
immune response in people with coeliac
disease after eating gluten-free oats for
three days.
This project will assess people with
coeliac disease who consume oats
over three months, and measure both
immune cell responses to oats and
traditional measures of damage, such
as the appearance of the lining to the
gut. It is hoped that this project will
establish if an immune response seen
in the blood stream after three days of
eating oats, is a good marker for any gut
damage caused by long term
oats intake.
The findings may enable a simple
immune blood test to identify those
people who may be sensitive to
gluten-free oats.
Principal investigator:
Dr Jason Tye-Din, The Walter
and Eliza Hall Institute, Australia
“We received 14 interesting
and varied applications covering
a range of research areas, which
could help to improve the lives of
people living with coeliac disease”.
