Crossed Grain February 2022

Feb 2022 Issue 116 Your charity newsletter Through the Coeliac UK Research Fund, we have already invested over £1million in key research projects since 2018. When the pandemic hit, so many of our research scientists, of course, had to shift their focus to covid-19. To find out more – and see how funding research could help, read about Gill and the Davage family’s experiences – visit coeliac.org.uk/researchfund T he success we have all seen in creating the vaccine programme for covid-19 has proved what can be achieved when the right investment is made into the right research. When our Research Fund was first launched, there was a tremendous response from our community – thank you. Your contributions have made a real difference. We have an incredible opportunity now, and if you can, we are asking that you give the Coeliac UK Research Fund the boost it needs. Researchers will need funding to enable them to unlock the uncertainties, such as what triggers coeliac disease in some people but not all, even when they have the same genes; and what are the links between coeliac disease and other autoimmune conditions. If we can identify the answers to these, and other questions, then we can ‘solve’ coeliac disease. The more funding we have in the Research Fund, the more research we’ll be able to support – and the greater the chance of taking the next vital steps towards a cure for coeliac disease. The Coeliac UK Research Fund Journey to a Cure: Gill, who shared her story “I have been fortunate to have played a part in the recent development of vaccines for covid-19, working as a small part of a brilliant team. The covid-19 crisis stretched the capacity of the UK scientific research community. Wonderfully, we were able to respond. But, if there is a silver lining to covid-19, it is that it has given us a new research ‘toolkit’. I am convinced that it is the area of coeliac disease research where we can use this new ‘toolkit’ to make the swiftest and most effective gains. Coeliac disease is a ‘hub’ condition – one which has links and similarities to many other autoimmune conditions. I believe that the right research, focused on answering some of the fundamental questions we have on coeliac disease, will bring immediate benefit not only to the coeliac community – but for many others with similar autoimmune conditions.” Prof Paul Klenerman, FRCP, FMedSci, and member of the Coeliac UK Research Strategy Board