ABC Professors Carola Vinuesa and Matthew Cook will head up the new Centre for Personalised Immunology.

A pioneering research centre to develop individual genetic therapies that will treat rare immune disorders is opening in Canberra.

The Centre for Personalised Immunology at the Australian National University (ANU) is the first centre of its kind in the world.

The researchers will focus on immune deficiencies, where the body's natural defences are dampened, and auto-immune disorders, where the patient's immune system attacks itself.

Centre co-director Professor Carola Vinuesa says the field of personalised immunology will revolutionise the way immune disorders are treated.

"Up to very recently, diseases like auto-immune diseases, so we're talking about diseases like Lupus, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Multiple Sclerosis, were all treated as if they were a single disease," Professor Vinuesa said.

"The only treatments available therefore were treatments that basically dampened the entire immune system.

"By knowing precisely what is the mechanism of disease in each patient we can start to tailor treatments specific for each patient. And we find that each patient, even though they might be diagnosed with the same disease, might need a completely different drug.

"So the treatments are now more effective and would have potentially less side effects."

Co-director Professor Matt Cook says many of the disorders are only vaguely diagnosed and are treated with broad, generic medicines.

Read more here:
World-first centre opens for research into individual gene therapies for immune disorders

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