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A new era for global immunology

Imagine a world where an immune health check was as routine as a heart check.

Where immune diseases were not silent and devastating for millions of people.

We have.

But we’re not just imagining.

The Snow Centre for Immune Health has a bold and ambitious goal to lead a new era of world-changing medical discoveries for immune health.
“We empower bold transformative research across Australia by backing the best and brightest researchers – and resourcing them with the tools they need to be world-class.”
Tom Snow
Chair, Snow Medical Research Foundation

A major health challenge

Diseases caused or worsened by a dysfunctional immune system pose one of the greatest health challenges in society, affecting millions of people worldwide.

These conditions range from rare, serious genetic immune deficiencies to potentially debilitating chronic disorders such as lupus, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, allergies and asthma.

Treatments are limited. Blanket approaches are common. Most have no cures.

Collectively these disorders are astonishingly common and are increasing in frequency globally.

Autoimmune diseases are a leading cause of death in women under 65.
Over 300 million people worldwide have asthma, including 1 in 9 Australians.
In Australia, allergy and immune disease are among the fastest growing chronic conditions.

Revolutionising immune health

In partnership with the Snow Medical Research Foundation (Snow Medical) we are establishing the Snow Centre for Immune Health to tackle these major global health challenges.

The centre, co-led by WEHI and the Royal Melbourne Hospital, will bring together leading Australian and international researchers with a shared mission to transform how we research and treat the immune system. Our goal is to accelerate discoveries into the underlying features and markers of immune health, to identify disease causes early and target appropriate treatment.

The centre is funded by an initial commitment of up to $100 million over 10 years – one of the largest and longest running philanthropic partnerships in Australian history.

A world first for immune health

The Snow Centre for Immune Health has a global mission to improve the lives of people with immune diseases, using a new approach to immune health.

The centre will look at immune health and the immune system from a whole-of-system, whole-of-person perspective.

The research program will decipher what factors give us good or poor immune health, transforming and accelerating personalised diagnosis and treatment for people living with immune diseases and dysfunction.

We believe this unique approach has the potential to transform the way we think about our immune health.

Our vision for the future

Solving the immune mystery

To discover how molecules and cells work together so we can understand what factors give us good or poor immune health.

Predictive immunology

To use this knowledge to accurately diagnose and assess a person’s risk of developing an immune disease.

Personalised treatment

To be able to tailor new therapies to the individual, to enable optimal immune functioning.

Proactive and preventative care

To shift our approach from diagnosing and treating immune diseases, towards proactive and preventative care.

A scientist is photographed working with a pipette
Vanessa Bryant, Phil Hodgkin and Charlotte Slade photographed in a laboratory, looking at scientific equipment

Doing science in a new way

The centre will focus on addressing the big questions in immune science.

It will integrate cutting-edge technologies and multidisciplinary teams of leading experts – including clinicians, mathematicians, engineers, geneticists and cell biologists from across the globe – to foster synergy and unprecedented diversity in thinking on the new science of immune health.

Sharing this giant pool of knowledge changes the ground rules for medical research, meaning we can do science in a completely different way, and from a collaborative ‘big-picture’ perspective.

It will translate discoveries made in the lab to benefits for patients at unparalleled scale and speed. 

“A project that will truly change the way we treat disease,” Tom Snow, Chair, Snow Medical Research Foundation
Brighter together
Investing in excellence

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11 October 2024
Snow Centre for Immune Health to revolutionise global immunology research
21 November 2023

Find out more

We invite you to have a conversation with us about how together we can maximise our impact and support the transformational Snow Centre for Immune Health.

Contact

Deborah Carr
Head of Philanthropy
M: 0400 724 853
E: carr.d@wehi.edu.au

 

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