The Snow Medical Research Foundation in Australia has pledged AU$100 million ($65.8 million) over 10 years to create an immunology research center at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute (WEHI).

Research at the Snow Centre for Immune Health, which is set to open in early 2024, will address the increase of immune disease in modern society and will be co-led by WEHI and the Royal Melbourne Hospital. The 15-year research program aims to decipher what factors affect people’s immune health and transform and accelerate personalized diagnosis and treatment for people suffering from immune diseases and dysfunction. In addition to funding the next generation of researchers, the Snow Medical partnership will support Snow Research Clinics.

“Australia has some of the best researchers in the world. We want to get them out of short-term funding cycles and give them freedom to experiment and take risks—we’re here to back them,” said Snow Medical founder Terry Snow.

“This center has the potential to entirely change the game when preventing, diagnosing, and treating immune disease, which has a tremendous burden on the global community,” said former WEHI director Doug Hilton. “This extraordinary investment from the Snow Medical Research Foundation has the power to solve some of the greatest puzzles in the human body. The scale of the center, as well as the long-term backing of some of the brightest scientists in the country by the Snow family, will help accelerate this research for the good of the community.”

(Photo credit: Getty Images/synesher)