FARE Launches Landmark $10 Million Initiative Supporting Proximal Translational Research in Food Allergy to Accelerate Breakthroughs

McLEAN, Va.—FARE (Food Allergy Research & Education), the leading nonprofit dedicated to prevention, management and cure of food allergy through research, education, and advocacy, today announced the launch of its Mind Meld Team Grant Program, issuing a Request for Applications (RFA) that will make up to $10 million available over four years to support proximal translational research designed to accelerate breakthroughs in food allergy.

Building on the groundbreaking Mind Meld Innovation Summit held at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2025, the Mind Meld Team Grant Program represents a fundamental shift in how food allergy research is conducted. Rather than funding individual investigators or single institutions, the program will support multidisciplinary, multi-institution teams that bring together experts across fields such as immunology, genetics, bioengineering, computational biology, artificial intelligence, clinical medicine, and other disciplines to solve some of food allergy’s most pressing challenges. Funded teams will be required to advance their research into human studies by the midpoint of the grant.

Mind Meld employs a proven convergence science model, integrating expertise from traditionally distinct disciplines to position food allergy at the junction of physical and biological sciences to move discoveries more rapidly from laboratory research to patient care.

“As someone living with food allergy myself, I know the urgency individuals and families face every single day as they wait for more treatment options and ultimately, a cure,” said Sung Poblete, PhD, RN, CEO of FARE. “The Mind Meld Team Grant Program is built on the belief that when we bring together the best scientific minds across disciplines, institutions and sectors, we can fundamentally change the pace of discovery, advance promising therapies toward patients with greater speed, coordination, and impact, and change the future of food allergy care.”

The Mind Meld Team Grant Program leverages a collaboration established at FARE’s Mind Meld Innovation Summit, which convened a Nobel laureate, leading immunologists, computational scientists, clinicians, federal agencies, and industry partners to identify bold new opportunities for accelerating food allergy research. The Team Grant Program now translates those ideas into action by providing substantial funding for collaborative research teams capable of delivering meaningful advances for patients.

The Mind Meld Team Grant Program is made possible through visionary investments from philanthropists, institutions like the National Peanut Board and Soy Nutrition Institute Global, and donors to FARE. Their support reflects a shared commitment to advancing innovative science that has the potential to improve the lives of millions of people living with food allergy.

For patients and families, the Mind Meld Team Grant Program represents more than a funding mechanism—it is a new way of pursuing breakthroughs, one designed to shorten the path from discovery to more treatments and a cure.

“This program is guided by the recognition that breakthroughs rarely happen in isolation,” said Robert Wood, MD, Johns Hopkins University and member, FARE Scientific Advisory Council. “In a field that has long been underfunded compared with many other serious chronic diseases, FARE is creating an important opportunity for investigators to work together in new ways to accelerate discovery. This approach moves promising research more quickly toward advances that can make a meaningful difference for people living with food allergy.” 

Unlike traditional investigator-initiated grants, the Mind Meld Team Grant Program requires multidisciplinary, multi-institution collaboration centered on measurable patient impact in a uniquely integrated approach to advancing food allergy science.

Researchers are encouraged to review the Request for Applications here and assemble teams capable of translating scientific discovery into patient impact.