The Immune Deficiency Foundation (IDF), awarded a 12-month research grant to Megan Cooper, MD, PhD of the St. Louis Children’s Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine. This research grant has led to the identification of a new primary immunodeficiency disease which is currently being referred to as TLR8-associated disease. Dr. Cooper and her team are currently investigating how this disease comes about and why patients with this genetic change have immunodeficiency.

Dr Cooper and her co-investigator, Dr Jeff Bednarski, used the funding from IDF and from the St. Louis Children’s Hospital to pursue research in Novel Genetic Variants in Pediatric Patients with Immune Dysregulation and will continue their work through 2019 and 2020.

The funding from IDF towards the finding of this new type of primary immunodeficiency is made possible through IDF Walk for PI. The funds raised by IDF Walk for PI ensure that IDF can continue to provide grants, like the one awarded to Dr. Cooper, to power critical patient-focused research that will ultimately lead to cures of all types of PI, and lead the way in the fight to improve diagnosis and access to treatment.