Arkansas center focused on improving prevention and treatment for food allergies
Official title: Arkansas Center for Food Allergy Research (ArCOFAR)
Funded at Arkansas Children's Hospital Res Inst · NIH-11283973 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This center will work to create better prevention and treatment options for children and adults with food allergies, including peanut allergy and tick‑related alpha‑gal syndrome.
Quick facts
| Grant type | U01 cooperative agreement |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Arkansas Children's Hospital Res Inst NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Little Rock, United States) |
| Project start | March 14, 2024 |
| Project end | February 28, 2031 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $640,028 |
| NIH project number | 5U01AI181962-03 |
| Project ID | NIH-11283973 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Children and adults with food allergies—such as peanut allergy, eosinophilic gastrointestinal disorders, or suspected alpha‑gal syndrome—or those at high risk who can travel to Arkansas or nearby CoFAR sites are ideal candidates.
✕Less likely to help
People without food allergies or with health issues unrelated to allergic disease are unlikely to receive direct benefits from this center's work.
What this research studies
At Arkansas Children's Hospital, this center will run clinical studies and trials aimed at improving how food allergies are prevented and treated. If you join, researchers will enroll children and adults—especially people from rural and underserved communities—and collect health information and biological samples to learn what helps. The team brings over 30 years of experience with peanut immunotherapy and eosinophilic gastrointestinal disorders and will include patients with alpha‑gal syndrome common in the region. Their work is intended to translate study findings into treatments and prevention options that could be used more widely.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could produce new prevention strategies and more effective treatments for food allergies and improve access for rural and underserved patients.
How similar studies have gone: Related efforts like peanut immunotherapy have shown promising results, though prevention strategies and work on conditions like alpha‑gal and EGID remain an active area of research.
Where this research is happening
-
Arkansas Children's Hospital Res Inst
Little Rock, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Jones, Stacie M — Arkansas Children's Hospital Res Inst
- Study coordinator: Jones, Stacie M
Related research
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Environment and early-life exposures shaping food allergy in children
This grant looks at how a child’s first year and their home environment may influence whether they develop food allergies, focusing on indoor exposures and microbes.
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.