Oral Immunotherapy for Food Allergic Patients

Hello from the Center for Allergy at Shamir Medical Center!

As always, we are delighted to bring you updates on our work, encompassing lab and clinical research, and patient treatment. The past few months have seen new steps forward in our ongoing mission to understand and treat food allergies. So let’s dive in.

First, we’re proud to share that Dr. Moshe Appel, one of our  researchers, participated in the recent European Association of Allergy and Clinical Immunology conference in Athens. During the meeting, Dr. Appel presented a talk on our center’s ongoing research into approaches for diagnosing hazelnut allergy.  Additionally, Dr. Appel also engaged with international colleagues on the topic of food extracts and their interaction with cultured intestinal epithelial cells. This subject is of interest to us as we conduct similar experiments using sterilized stool liquid from patients before and after undergoing oral immunotherapy (OIT) for food allergy. Dr. Appel is now taking this work a step further, investigating how the food extracts and patient-derived samples might work together to influence the gut barrier. The goal? To better understand how successful OIT transforms the immune landscape. Scientific collaboration and cross-pollination at conferences like these often spark new research directions, and we’re excited about where this could lead.

On a different  note, some of our staff have recently participated in educational webinars on the growing role of generative artificial intelligence (AI) in the workplace. Spoiler alert: it’s not just for writing emails or generating cat memes. We’re now considering how AI might help us sift through large datasets to identify the most effective allergy testing strategies for patients from diverse backgrounds. Of course, AI doesn’t replace the human touch — we still need our clinical expertise to interpret and validate any computer-generated insights. And we remain absolutely vigilant about patient privacy. AI may be the shiny new tool in the toolbox, but we must be cognizant, in order to utilize it effectively and ethically.

We continue to be humbled by the progress we make and the support you provide. None of this research, experimentation, or innovation would be possible without the generosity of people like you. If you're looking to make a difference with your giving, please consider helping us push the boundaries of allergy diagnosis and treatment even further.

With appreciation and curiosity for what comes next,