The CfA Network
The network that is run by the CfA (Centre for Allergy Research) was granted support from the research committee at Karolinska Institutet for 3 years, from 2025 to 2027. The grant is of great importance to the CfA and enables us to promote allergy research at KI in several different ways.
Leadership
The CfA network is led by directors Professor Erik Melén and Professor Jenny Mjösberg. As one of the previous directors of the CfA, Professor Sven-Erik Dahlén, participated in the recent application for network support and contributed with his extensive experience from the original CfA that was founded in 2000.
Participants and Scope
The network gathers allergy researchers at Karolinska Institutet under one umbrella, and reaches approximately 300 KI scientists via its email list. The research carried out within the network spans pediatric and adult primary and specialist care, several clinical specialties and includes basic, translational, epidemiological and clinical research studies from a broad spectrum of KI's institutions, as reflected by the scientists included in our steering committee: Sven-Erik Dahlén, Craig Wheelock, Catarina Almqvist Malmros, Björn Nordlund, Jonathan Coquet, Mikael Adner, Hanna Sandelowsky, Gunilla Hedlin, Anna Bergström and Marit Westman.
Junior Faculty
Within the network, there is also a junior faculty that organizes workshops, seminars and social events to support younger allergy researchers and doctoral students at Karolinska Institutet. The CfA junior faculty is led by Chris Tibbit and Itziar Martinez Gonzalez.
Goals and Vision
The long-term goal of the CfA is to eradicate allergy symptoms and improve quality of life for individuals with allergies. The network specifically aims to:
- Strengthen interdisciplinary and inter-institutional collaborations of the highest international quality
- Create new opportunities for collaboration across different institutions, clinical specialties, and research areas at KI
- Promote translational research between basic researchers and clinicians
- Support internationalization of KI's allergy research
Use of Granted Funds
The annual budget of 600,000 SEK will be used to finance:
- An annual workshop: A full day dedicated to networking and collaborative activities
- Grants for collaborations between junior researchers: To support new translational collaborations
- Grants for individual junior researchers: For international research visits
- Research seminars: Every other month with international speakers
- Administrative support: Including website and newsletter
Significance and Social Relevance
Asthma and allergies affect up to one-third of the Swedish population and incur major societal costs of several billion SEK annually. These chronic diseases often debut early in life and remain a lifelong burden for those affected. The support that the network has received is crucial for maintaining and further developing the rich research environment that exists within the field of allergy research at KI, with the goal of developing new treatments and diagnostic methods to improve the lives of people with allergy.
Our research network fulfills an important need by gathering and utilizing the broad allergy expertise that exists at Karolinska Institutet. The success of the network is highlighted by the 183 original articles published during the ChAMP project (2013-2021), of which 48% were published in journals with an impact factor over 10. Through its international profile, exemplified by Nobel Conference No. 68 focusing on allergy, which was organized by the network in June 2024, we further strengthen KI's position on the international map.
