research

A/Professor Katie Allen

contact details

Katie Allen 2011  A/Professor Katie Allen
  Theme Director Environment, Genes & Health
  Group leader Gastro & Food Allergy
  Murdoch Childrens Research Institute
  Royal Children's Hospital
  Flemington Road
  Parkville
  Victoria, 3052

  T +61 3 9345 5060
  F +61 3 9345 6240
  E katie.allen@mcri.edu.au

biography

Associate Professor Katie Allen is a paediatric gastroenterologist and allergist undertaking research in the evolving field of food allergy. She is a prestigious Viertel Senior Medical Research Fellow (worth $1 million over 5 years) and is the principal investigator of the HealthNuts study - the largest single centre population-based study of food allergy in children ever mounted. Prof Allen is chief investigator on a further 6 NHMRC-funded cohort studies which all seek to answer parts of the jigsaw with regards to the evolving allergy epidemic.

She is a member of the Paediatric and Education committees for Australasian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy and of the Eosinophilic Gastrointestinal Disorders committee for both the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology and the European Society of Paedatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition. She has published more than 70 peer-reviewed papers and currently supervises 6 PhD students. She remains an active clinician at the Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne and lectures medical students in the University of Melbourne Department of Paediatrics and Trainee RACP candidates.

achievements

2010-2015    Sylvia and Charles Viertel Charitable Foundation - Senior Medical Research Fellowship
2006-2010    NHMRC Career Development Award (clinical 50%)
2006    The Barry Young Servier Cardiovascular and Metabolic Fellowship from the Royal Australasian College of Physicians
2005    Hereditary haemochromatosis project selected as one of "Ten of the Best NHMRC funded health and medical research successes" - launched by the Federal Minister for Health, Tony Abbott.
2005    Emerging Leaders Program (Gastroenterology), Gottenberg, Sweden
1999/2000    Victorian Fellowship 
2000    International Outreach Award - World Congress of Paediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition - Boston, USA
1998    Young Investigator Award (South Zone) - Asian Pacific Association for the Study of the Liver, Perth

research focus & interest

Associate Professor Katie Allen's research interests include common, preventable gastrointestinal diseases that present a significant public health burden. She has raised over 10 million dollars in research funding since 2001.

Katie is principal investigator of the HealthNuts study and chief investigator on 3 further population based NHMRC-funded allergy studies, the Barwon infant study, the Melbourne Atopic Cohort Longitudinal study and the Melbourne Asthma and Allergy in Adolescents study. These projects aim to inform public health guidelines about food allergy, anaphylaxis and asthma prevention and treatment as well as to assist development of responsive workforce planning for allergy services. She has recently published 6 articles in the pre-eminent allergy journal, Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

She instigated and was co-leader of HaemScreen, a population genetic screening study of haemochromatosis. The results of this study have been published in The Lancet. She is also co-leader for an NHMRC and NIH-funded study (HealthIron) - the largest and most comprehensive longitudinal study of disease penetrance of haemochromatosis to date which has resulted in publications in the New England Journal of Medicine, and the top 2 journals for their discipline, Gastroenterology and Hepatology.

Associate Professor Katie Allen's PhD was laboratory based. She undertook translation of these results from laboratory to bedside by coordinating and leading the clinical team at the Royal Children's Hospital to undertake Australia's first liver cell transplantation in 2004.

publications

JJ Koplin,  MLK Tang, PE Martin, NJ Osborne, AJ Lowe, A-L Ponsonby, MN Robinson, DTey, L Thiele, SAlmer, DJHill, LC Gurrin, M Wake, SC Dharmage, KJ Allen*. Predetermined challenge eligibility and cessation criteria for oral food challenges in the HealthNuts population-based study of infants. Accepted  Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, September 2011 (*corresponding author)

Charlotte B. Madsen, Sue Hattersley, Katrina Allen, Kirsten Beyer, Chun-Han Chan, Samuel B. Godefroy, Ruth Hodgson, E.N.Clare Mills, Anne Muñoz-Furlong, Sabine Schnadt, Rachel Ward, Magnus Wickman, René Crevel. Can we define a Tolerable Level of Risk in Food Allergy?  Report from a EuroPrevall/Food Standards Agency workshop. Accepted to Allergy July 2011

Lodge C, Lowe A, Gurrin L, Hill D, Hosking C, Khalafzai R, Hopper J, Matheson M, Abramson M, Allen KJ, Dharmage SC. House dust mite sensitization in toddlers predicts current asthma at 12 years.  Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology [Aug 5 - Epub ahead of print] 2011

Lowe AJ, Hosking CS, Bennett CM, Allen KJ, Axelrad C, Carlin JB,  Abramson MJ, Dharmage SC, Hill DJ.  Effect of a partially hydrolysed whey infant formula at weaning on risk of allergic disease in high-risk children: A randomized controlled trial. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, 128(2): 360-365, 2011 (IF 9.8).

Vuilerman P, Allen KJ. Diet in infancy and later signs of beta-cell autoimmunity. New England Journal of Medicine, 2011 364(9):879

Martin PE, Matheson MC, Gurrin LC, Burgess JA, Osborne NJ, Morrison S, Mészàros D, Abramson MJ, Walters EH, Allen KJ, Dharmage SC. Childhood eczema and rhinitis predict atopic but not nonatopic adult asthma: A prospective cohort study over 4 decades. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology 2011 127(6):1473-1479 (IF 9.8)

Prescott S, Allen KJ. Food Allergy: Riding the second wave of the allergy epidemic. Paediatric Allergy and Immunology 22(2):155-60, 2011

Chen J, Hu Y, Allen KJ, Ho MH, Li H. The prevalence of food allergy in infants in Chongqing, China. Pediatric Allergy and Immunology, 22(4): 356-60, 2011.

Osborne NJ, Koplin JJ, Martin PE, Gurrin LC, Lowe AJ, Matheson MC, Ponsonby A-L, Wake M, Tang MLK, Dharmage SC, Allen KJ*. Prevalence of challenge-proven IgE-mediated food allergy using a population-based sampling frame and pre-determined challenge criteria in infants. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. 2011 Mar;127(3):668-676.e2. (*corresponding author)

Lowe AJ, Carlin JB, Bennett CM, Hosking CS, Allen KJ, Robertson CF, Axelrad C, Abramson MJ, Hill DJ, Dharmage SC. Paracetamol use in early life and asthma: prospective birth cohort study. BMJ 341: c4616, 2010.

Koplin JJ, Osborne NJ, Wake M, Martin PE, Gurrin LC, Robinson MN, Tey D, Slaa M, Thiele L, Miles L, Anderson D, Tan T, Dang TD, Hill DJ, Lowe AJ, Matheson MC, Ponsonby AL, Tang ML, Dharmage SC, Allen KJ*. Can early introduction of egg prevent egg allergy in infants? A population-based study. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology 126 (4): 807-13, 2010. (*corresponding author)

Allen KJ, Bertalli NA, Osborne NJ, Constantine CC, Delatycki MB, Nisselle AE, Nicoll AJ, Gertig DM, McLaren CE, Giles GG, Hopper JL, Anderson GJ, Olynyk JK, Powell LW, Gurrin LC. HFE Cys282Tyr homozygotes with serum ferritin concentrations below 1000 microg/L are at low risk of hemochromatosis. Hepatology 52 (3): 925-33, 2010.

Osborne NJ, Gurrin LC, Allen KJ, Constantine CC, Delatycki MB, McLaren CE, Gertig DM, Anderson GJ, Southey MC, Olynyk JK, Powell LW, Hopper JL, Giles GG, English DR. HFE C282Y homozygotes are at increased risk of breast and colorectal cancer. Hepatology 51 (4): 1311-8, 2010.

Thomson JA, Widjaja C, Darmaputra AA, Lowe A, Matheson MC, Bennett CM, Allen KJ, Abramson MJ, Hosking C, Hill D, Dharmage SC. Early childhood infections and immunisation and the development of allergic disease in particular asthma in a high-risk cohort: A prospective study of allergy-prone children from birth to six years. Pediatric Allergy and Immunology 21 (7): 1076-85, 2010.

Grimshaw KEC, Allen KJ, Edwards CA, Beyer K, Boulay A, , Van der Aa LB, Sprikkelmann A, Belohlavkova S, Clausen M, Dubakiene R, Duggan E, Reche M, Marino LV, Nørhede P, Ogorodova L, Schoemaker A, Stanczyk-Przyluska A, Szepfalusi Z,  Vassilopoulou E, Veehof SHE, Vlieg-Boerstra BJ, Wjst M, Dubois AEJ.  Infant feeding and allergy prevention: A review of current knowledge and recommendations. A EuroPrevall State of the Art paper.  Allergy 64:1407-16, 2009.

Gurrin LC, Bertalli NA, Dalton GW, Osborne NJ, Constantine CC, McLaren CE, English DR, Gertig DM, Delatycki MB, Nicoll AJ, Southey MC, Hopper JL, Giles GG, Anderson GJ, Olynyk JK, Powell LW, Allen KJ. HFE C282Y/H63D compound heterozygotes are at low risk of hemochromatosis-related morbidity. Hepatology 50 (1): 94-101, 2009.

Lowe A, Abramson M, Dharmage S, Allen K. The association between paracetamol use in early life and asthma is spurious. The Lancet 373(9663); 120, 2009. (IF 28.638)

Allen KJ, Gurrin LC, Osborne NJ, Constantine CC, Delatycki MB, Nicoll A,  McLaren CE, Bahlo M, Nisselle AE, Vulpe C, Anderson G, Giles GG, English DR, Hopper JL, Olynyk JK, Powell LW and Gertig DM.  Iron-overload-related disease in HFE hereditary hemochromatosis.  New England Journal of Medicine 358 (3):221-30, 2008. (Impact Factor 52). Accompanying Editorial Comment by Bruce Bacon

Allen KJ, Gurrin LC, Powell LW. Response to Letter to the Editor regarding Iron-overload-related disease in HFE hereditary hemochromatosis.  New England Journal of Medicine 358 (21): 2292-4, 2008.

Gurrin LC, Osborne NJ, Constantine CC, McLaren CE, Anderson GJ, English DR, Olynyk JK, Powell LW, Delatycki MB, Gertig DM, Allen KJ* for the HealthIron Study Investigators. The natural history of iron indices in HFE C282Y homozygotes over 55 years of age. Gastroenterology 135(6): 1945-52, 2008. (IF 12) (*corresponding author). Accompanying editorial Paul Adams.

Koplin J, Dharmage S, Osborne NJ, Gurrin LC, Hosking C, Hill DJ, Tang MLK,  Allen KJ. Soy consumption is not associated with peanut sensitisation. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology,  121(6): 1455-9, 2008. (IF 9.8)

Ho MH, Wong WHS, Heine RG, Hosking CS, Hill DJ, Allen KJ*. Early clinical predictors of remission of peanut allergy in children. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, 121(3):731-6, 2008. (IF 9.8)  (*corresponding author)

Koplin J, Allen KJ*, Gurrin L, Osborne NJ, Tang MLK and Dharmage S Is caesarean delivery associated with sensitisation to food allergens and IgE-mediated food allergy: A systematic review. Pediatric Allergy and Immunology 19(8): 682-687, 2008. (IF 2.4)(*corresponding author)

Hill DJ, Heine RG, Hosking CH, Brown J, Theile L, Allen KJ, Su J, Varigos G, Carlin JB. IgE-mediated food allergy in infants with eczema attending a dermatology department. Journal of Pediatrics 151(4):359-363, 2007. (IF 4.0)

Allen KJ, Gurrin LC, Osborne NJ, Constantine CC, Delatycki MB, Nicoll A,  McLaren CE, Bahlo M, Fletcher AS, Nisselle AE, Forrest S, Vulpe C, Anderson G, Giles GG, English DR, Hopper JL, Olynyk JK, Powell LW and Gertig DM.  The Healthiron Study: A longitudinal study of the natural history and burden of disease of hereditary hemochromatosis. Hepatology 44(4): 221A, 2006. (IF 10.4)

Powell L, Dixon J.L, Ramm GA, Purdie DM, Lincoln DJ, Anderson GJ, Subramaniam VN, Hewett DG, Searle JW, Fletcher LM, Crawford DH, Rodgers H, Allen KJ, Cavanaugh JA, Bassett ML.  Cascade screening and opportunistic screening reveal comparable levels of hepatic iron overload and disease in apparently healthy hemochromatosis subjects. Archives of Internal Medicine 166 (3): 294-301, 2006. (IF 6.76)