Allergy Immunology

The Allergy Immunology group is developing new therapies to achieve lasting remission of food allergy, while improving diagnosis, prevention and day-to-day care for children and families.

The challenge

Current allergy management relies on strict allergen avoidance, requiring constant vigilance and readiness to respond to potentially life-threatening reactions. This creates a substantial daily burden for children and families, including ongoing anxiety around accidental exposures and the need for constant planning.

Several emerging therapies, some already approved overseas, can increase the amount of allergen a child can tolerate while treatment continues. However, if treatment stops, protection is lost. This is known as desensitisation, where the underlying allergic response remains unchanged.

As a result, children must stay on treatment indefinitely, and protection is typically limited to small or trace exposures, leaving much of the day-to-day burden in place.

Our research

We integrate discovery science, clinical trials and patient-centred research. Laboratory discoveries inform therapy development, while clinical studies generate biological insights that drive the next cycle of research.

Our research addresses three important gaps in care. We develop therapies that reprogram the immune response to achieve remission, so protection continues after treatment has stopped and extends to real-world exposures.

We also develop better diagnostic tools and practical interventions that improve quality of life for children and families. We also investigate the immune mechanisms underlying remission to identify biomarkers and therapeutic targets for future treatments.

Our focus

Our goal is to move beyond desensitisation towards durable immune change, altering the course of food allergy and reducing its lifelong impact on children and their families.

Improving the lives of children and families living with food allergy

Watch as Stella speaks to Allergist Immunologist, Professor Mimi Tang about her role at MCRI.

More information

• Food allergy at MCRI
• MCRI Allergy Flagship
• Centre for Food and Allergy Research (CFAR)
• Discovery made into which children will outgrow their peanut allergy
• Professor Mimi Tang receives Distinguished Leadership Award
• Easier access to clinical trials under sweeping changes to medical research
• Professor Mimi Tang named ASEAN-Australia Centre Advisory Board Chair
• Researchers discover immune system changes that support peanut allergy remission in children
• Serious allergic reactions to food among children stabilise after guideline changes

Contact us

Professor Mimi Tang, Group Leader/Director of Allergy Immunology group
Email:  show email address

Our projects

Achieving lasting remission from food allergy

• Development and evaluation of remission-focused therapies for peanut, egg and milk allergy.
• Includes clinical trials, long-term follow-up studies and evaluation of real-world outcomes.
  
  

Understanding the immune mechanisms of remission

• Discovery science investigating the immune pathways, biomarkers and therapeutic targets that underpin lasting remission.
• Aims to develop next-generation therapies and precision diagnostic tools.
  
  

Precision diagnosis of food allergy

Development of biomarker and machine learning approaches to improve diagnosis, predict treatment response and reduce the need for oral food challenges.

Improving outcomes that matter to children and families

Research into health-related quality of life, patient-reported outcomes, caregiver preferences, treatment burden and health economics to ensure new therapies deliver meaningful real-world benefit.

Digital innovation for food allergy

Development of digital health solutions that improve food allergy management, support shared decision-making and enhance safety for children and families.

Translating research into better care

Research that supports implementation of new therapies into clinical practice through evaluation of long-term outcomes, safety, patient experience, health economics and policy.

Generates the evidence needed to inform clinical guidelines, healthcare funding and routine care for children with food allergy.

Funding

Thank you to our supporters.

• National Health and Medical Research Council
• Allergy and Immunology Foundation of Australasia
• Victorian Medical Research Acceleration Fund
• Murdoch Children’s Research Institute
• Rammaciotti Foundation
• Thrasher Foundation
• Prota Therapeutics
• National Children’s Research Centre in Ireland

Our group has received more than A$17 million in new grant funding from 2021 to 2024.

Collaborations

Our work is strengthened by close collaborations across Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, The Royal Children's Hospital (RCH) and the University of Melbourne, and with national and international partners.

MCRI researchers

• Associate Professor Rachel Peters and Associate Professor Jennifer Koplin, HealthNuts, EarlyNuts and SchoolNuts studies.
• Professor Kirsten Perrett, VITALITY Trial
  
  

Allergy epidemiology and long-term outcomes

• Professor Shyamali Dharmage, University of Melbourne
• Professor Bircan Erbas, LaTrobe University
• Dr Don Vicendese, University of Melbourne
  
  

Barwon Infant Study

• Associate Professor Peter Vuillermin
• Professor Anne Louise Ponsonby
  
  

Immune and gene network studies

• Dr Anthony Bosco, University of Arizona
• Dr Anya Jones, University of Western Australia
  
  

Quality of life outcomes

• Dr Audrey Dunn-Galvin, quality of life outcomes, University College Cork
  
  

Microbiome and metabolomics

• Professor Pam Guerrerio, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
  
  

Microbiome signatures linked to remission

• Professor Hauke Schmidt, University of Wageningen
  
  

Other studies

• Professor Adrian Lowe, PEBBLES Study

Featured publications

Loke P, Orsini F, Lozinsky AC, Gold M, O'Sullivan MD, Quinn P, Lloyd M, Ashley SE, Pitkin S, Axelrad C, Metcalfe JR, Su EL, Tey D, Robinson MN, Allen KJ, Prescott SL, DunnGalvin A, Tang MLK; PPOIT-003 study group. Probiotic peanut oral immunotherapy versus oral immunotherapy and placebo in children with peanut allergy in Australia (PPOIT-003): a multicentre, randomised, phase 2b trial. Lancet Child Adolesc Health. 2022;6(3):171-184. DOI: 10.1016/S2352-4642(21)00371-4 

Loke P, Wang X, Lloyd M, Ashley SE, Lozinsky AC, Gold M, O'Sullivan M, Quinn P, Robinson M, DunnGalvin A, Orsini F, PPOIT-003 study group, Tang MLK. Two-year post-treatment outcomes following peanut oral immunotherapy in the PPOIT-003LT study. Allergy. 2024;79. DOI: 10.1111/all.16203 

Lloyd M, Loke P, Nguyen K, Pitkin S, Ashley S, Cantlay A, Burns J, Brown H, Orsini F, Tang MLK, Chebar Lozinsky Rolnik A. Probiotic oral immunotherapy for egg and milk allergy induces sustained unresponsiveness. Pediatr Allergy Immunol. 2025;36(10):e70222. DOI: 10.1111/pai.70222 

Ashley SE, Jones AC, Anderson D, Holt PG, Bosco A, Tang MLK. Remission of peanut allergy is associated with rewiring of allergen-driven T helper 2-related gene networks. Allergy. 2022;77(10):3015-3027. DOI: 10.1111/all.15305 

Ashley S, Bosco A, Tang MLK. Transcriptomic changes associated with oral immunotherapy for food allergy. Pediatr Allergy Immunol. 2024;35:e14106. DOI: 10.1111/pai.14106

Hu A, Lloyd M, Loke P, Lozinsky AC, O'Sullivan M, Quinn P, Gold M, Tang MLK. Association of reaction symptoms and eliciting dose with health-related quality of life in children with peanut allergy. J Allergy Clin Immunol Pract. 2023;11(10):3195-3202.e4. DOI: 10.1016/j.jaip.2023.06.026 

Rosser SA, Lloyd M, Hu A, Loke P, Tang MLK. Associations between gender and health-related quality of life in people with IgE-mediated food allergy and their caregivers: a systematic review. Clin Exp Allergy. 2024;54(2):93-108. DOI: 10.1111/cea.14450 

Lloyd M, Nandinee P, Munblit D, Tang MLK. 
Endpoints and outcomes following immunotherapy for food allergy: What is meaningful for patients? Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice. 2023;11(4):998-1007. DOI: 10.1016/j.jaip.2022.11.036 

Huang L, Dalziel K, Lloyd M, Loke P, Lozinsky AC, Tang MLK. Cost-effectiveness analysis of probiotic peanut oral immunotherapy versus placebo in Australian children with peanut allergy alongside a randomised trial. BMJ Open. 2023;13:e075521. DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2023-075521 

DunnGalvin A, Lloyd M, Hsiao KC, Tang MLK; PPOIT-001 Study Team.  Long-term benefit of probiotic peanut oral immunotherapy on quality of life in a randomized trial. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice. 2021;9(12):4493-4495.e1. DOI: 10.1016/j.jaip.2021.07.018