# University of North Carolina Food Allergy Initiative

> **NIH NIH UM1** · UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL · 2020 · $235,000

## Abstract

Food allergy (FA) affects up to 8% of young children and 3-6% of the entire U.S. population, and its prevalence
appears to have increased significantly over the past 15 to 20 years. The Consortium for Food Allergy Research
(CoFAR) is a network of research sites tasked with advancing FA prevention and treatment through consortium-
wide clinical trials. The next version of CoFAR will establish a national network of 6-7 Clinical Research Units
(CRUs), with proven FA trial expertise, infrastructure and access to allergy populations. The CRUs, under the
direction of the CoFAR Leadership Center, will participate in collaborative multicenter trials of new FA therapies.
The University of North Carolina Food Allergy Initiative (UNCFAI), a leader in FA clinical research, proposes to
establish a CRU, leveraging the expertise and experience of the PI, Dr Wesley Burks, a world class FA research
infrastructure at UNC, and an innovative recruitment strategy covering a large and diverse regional FA patient
population. The specific aims are: Aim 1: Expand UNCFAI by the development of a dynamic, collaborative and
sustainable CoFAR Clinical Research Unit to rapidly implement clinical trials in collaboration with the entire
consortium. Aim 2: Promote career development of young clinician-investigators in food allergy research Aim 3:
Foster participation of researchers, physicians, patients and patient support groups in CoFAR clinical trials Aim
4: Conduct an innovative clinical trial using a SMART framework. The UNC CRU has several assets that will
benefit CoFAR endeavors, including a state-of-the-art Clinical and Translational Research Center, a high
capacity Manufacturing Facility and advanced study design and biostatistics expertise. The UNC Divisions and
Allergy and Immunology will recruit and train junior investigators interested in FA research, drawing on divisional,
departmental and university-wide training programs. The CRU will draw on (i) local and regional health care
networks, private allergy practices and patient support groups, (ii) large health care databases, like the Carolina
Data Warehouse for Health, and (iii) NC TRaCS community outreach strategies, to inform the broad FA
population of North Carolina about CRU activities and to recruit these patients into CoFAR trials. As part of the
application the UNC CRU proposes a multicenter trial to investigate the relative efficacy of specific combinations
and sequences of high-, medium- and low-dose immunotherapies (oral, sublingual and epidermal, respectively)
to establish and maintain peanut insensitivity with minimal allergic side effects and maximal compliance. The
study uses a sequential, multiple assignment, randomized (SMART) trial design, which is a significant advance
on traditional multi-arm and crossover studies, in that it allows simultaneous testing of multiple treatment
modalities, combinations and sequences, while accounting for additive effects. The treatment and biomarker
data generated fr...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9880398
- **Project number:** 5UM1AI130936-04
- **Recipient organization:** UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL
- **Principal Investigator:** Edwin Kim
- **Activity code:** UM1 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $235,000
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-03-01 → 2024-02-29

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9880398

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9880398, University of North Carolina Food Allergy Initiative (5UM1AI130936-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9880398. Licensed CC0.

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