aair charity’s
Recent Research
The AAIR Charity is currently accepting applications for research and equipment funding. The call will remain open until Tuesday 1st November at 1700 hours.
Please send your applications to aair@soton.ac.uk.
Research Application Form-Oct2026
Equipment Application Form- Oct2026
Research Award: Define the prognostic value of 3-gene signature and their functions in pulmonary fibrosis
Awarded to: Xi Li and Kun Zheng
Amount: £10,000 (June 2024 – June 2026)
Equipment: MP Biomedicals Fast-Prep 24 5G Bead Beating Grinder and Lysis System
Awarded to: Liku Bekele Tezera
Amount: £4,868.35 (June 2026)
Research Award: Identification of epigenetic DNA methylation marks for asthma and allergic sensitization using Oxford Nanopore in IoW F2 generation
Awarded to: Negusse Kitaba and John Holloway
Amount: £9,284.20 (completed September 2025)
Research Award: Factor Inhibiting HIF (FIH) in lung fibroblasts: a determinant of aberrant mesenchymal-epithelial crosstalk?
Awarded to: Siyuan Wang
Amount: £10,000 (June 2022 – June 2024)
Research Award: Uncontrolled Asthma and Related Risk Factors in Children In Ireland
Awarded to: Dr Sarah Lewis
Awarded: October 2024
Research Award: Reducing asthma exacerbations by using short-acting beta agonist prescription alerts to target high risk children: feasibility work
Awarded to: Anna Selby
Amount: £1,380 (May 2022 – Jan 2024)
Research Award: Generation of PCD gene CRISPR Cas9 knock out cell lines
Awarded to: Dr Claire Jackson
Amount: £10,000
Research Award: Expansion of an ex vivo primary respiratory epithelial cell model to facilitate primary ciliary dyskinesia airway research
Awarded to: Dr Claire Jackson
Amount: £8,574 (Feb 2018 – January 2022)
Research Award: Patient-centred composite indices for assessment of response to biological therapy for paediatric and adult severe asthma
Awarded to: Dr Ekaterina Khaleva
Awarded:£7,664 (May 2022 – May 2023)
Research Award: The role of PI3 Kinases during human rhinovirus infection in asthma
Awarded to: Dr Cornelia Blume
Amount: £9,157 (March 2020 – March 2022)
Research Award: Effect of female sex hormones on the antiviral response of the bronchial epithelium
Awarded to: Cornelia Blume
Amount: £10,000
Research Award: miRNAs as potential biomarkers for biologic treatment response in severe asthma patients
Awarded to: Elena Vorobeva
Amount: £9,831
PhD Studentship: The contribution of mast cells to rhinovirus infections in asthma
Awarded to: Emily Swindle and D.E. Davies
Amount: £27,000 (October 2013 – September 2016)
PhD Studentship: Information provision preferences of food allergic and intolerant consumers when eating
Awarded to: Jane Lucas
Amount: £11,800 (March 2014 – March 2017).
Stephen Holgate PhD Studentship: The role of ADAM33 in pre- and perinatal airway remodelling and the early life development of asthma
Awarded to: Hans Michael Haitchi, C. Woelk and J. Kelly
Amount: £58,100 (additional University of Southampton, Faculty of Medicine funding £48,100) (October 2014 – October 2018).
Research Award: ADAM33 inhibitor and crystal structure project
Awarded to: Hans Michael Haitchi
Amount: £23,100
Research Award: Assessing the correlation between immune statues and asthma: from birth to early childhood study
Awarded to: Aref Kyyaly
Amount: £8,600
Research Award: Assessment of Bronchial Hyper-reactivity in the Isle of Wight Birth Cohort at 26-years to Support Characterisation of Asthma Remission and Persistence from Childhood to Adulthood
Awarded to: Ramesh J Kurukulaaratchy
Amount: £10,000
Research Award: Assessment of the asthma specific emotional profile in individuals with asthma and their partners
Awarded to: Judit Varkonyi-Sepp and P. Howarth
Amount: £8,321
Research Award: Can we treat Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) patients by promoting autophagy (“self-eating”)?
Awarded to: Yihau Wang
Amount: £10,000
Research Award: Development and validation of age specific health related quality of life measures for patients with primary ciliary dyskinesia
Awarded to: Laura Behan and J. Lucas
Amount: £9,000
Research Award: Do fibrous mineral dust particles elicit a pro-fibrotic response in a conditioned medium model of the distal airways?
Awarded to: R. Latouche, D. Smart and M. Loxham
Amount: £7,528
Research Award: Initial Characterisation of Difficult Asthma in the WATCH Study – Baseline Assessment
Awarded to: Ramesh J Kurukulaaratchy
Amount: £3,500
Research Award: Investigating cellular cross talk in the airway epithelial mesenchymal trophic unit following viral infection
Awarded to: Cornelia Blume and E. Swindle
Amount: £5,350
Research Award: Reducing Worry in Asthma Patients (REWRAP)
Awarded to: Ben Ainsworth
Amount: £6,272
Research Award: The Role of CDHR3 in epithelial barrier function in asthma
Awarded to: Donna Davies, A. Mudher and J. Collins
Amount: £9,934
Research Award: The role of pericytes in ADAM33 induced airway remodelling in asthma
Awarded to: Hans Michael Haitchi
Amount: £11,762
Research Award: Investigating whether a species-dependent rhinovirus response in infected cells might be linked to respiratory disease outcome
Awarded to: Christopher McCormick and D. Davies
Amount: £9,968
Research Award: Evaluation of alternatively spliced Th2–related genes in alveolar macrophages and bronchial epithelial cells by Frac-seq, to investigate their influence on the modulation of proteomic output and relationship to disease severity in asthma
Awarded to: R. T. Martinez-Nunez
Amount: £10,000
Research Equipment: Centrifuge Heraeus Megafuge 40R
Awarded to: Rose-Marie Mackay, A. Walls, A. Postle, J. Madsen, H. Clark, P. Howarth
Amount: £3,400
Research Equipment: FilmArray: multiplex rapid PCR system
Awarded to: Tristan Clark and N. Brendish
Amount: £10,000
Research Equipment: Meso Quickplex SQ120
Awarded to: Laure Lau, P. Howarth, H. Arshad, A. Walls and H. M. Haitchi
Amount: £10,000
Travel Grant: Travel Fellowship for training in RNA-Seq Analysis of Lungs from Transgenic Mice Expressing Human ADAM33 pro and Metalloprotease Domains – A Model for Asthmatic Airway Remodelling
Awarded to: Joanne Kelly and H. M. Haitchi
Amount: £1,653