One of the major aims of our research programme is to understand why so many children develop asthma and allergy, focusing on early life factors, both antenatal and postnatal.

We are looking at both genetic and environmental factors. Our Group is also developing interventions to both prevent and treat asthma and allergic disease in childhood.

We are working with a number of other groups within University of Southampton and with academic institutions across Europe and the US to deliver this programme. The two following projects contribute to this work.

Projects:

i) iFAAM Food Allergy Project - Birth Cohort Follow-up (Graham Roberts, Kate Grimshaw and Erin Oliver) This large pan European project following up the EuroPrevall birth cohort is funded by the European Union’s FP7 programme as part of the larger iFAAM project. The UK centre is also receiving funding from UK Food Standards Agency. (click on the iFAAM logo for more information)

ii) EuroPrevall Food Allergy Project - Birth Cohort (known locally as the PIFA Study) (Graham Roberts, Kate Grimshaw and Erin Oliver) Funded by European Union’s FP6 programme and UK Food Standards Agency, this large pan European birth cohort has provided an exciting insight into the early origins of food allergy in childhood.