Understanding Food Allergy

The Questions

FASI pursues the questions that could move food allergy science toward a cure. Why does the immune system learn that a food is dangerous? Why can one exposure be mild and another severe? Why does protection last in some people and fade in others? These three connected questions focus our research on the gaps that matter most to patients.

Question One

1. Why does food allergy begin?

Understanding how allergy takes hold

The immune system usually accepts food without an allergic response. FASI is investigating why that changes and how the body becomes sensitized: primed for a possible future reaction to a food protein. Sensitization does not always lead to symptoms. Understanding what turns this early change into food allergy is essential to prevention.

Our researchers study the skin and gut, which act as protective barriers, and the microbiome, the microbes living in and on the body. They investigate how those microbes and the substances they produce interact with a developing immune system. They also examine how sensory nerves, diet, and environmental exposures influence the response.

FASI researchers are separating changes that cause allergy from those that occur alongside it. Pinpointing the earliest steps could reveal signs of risk and ways to prevent food allergy before the immune system establishes a lasting memory of the food as a threat.

view research on why food allergy begins

Meet the scientists studying how food allergy begins

Ruslan Medzhitov, Ph.D.
Caroline Sokol, M.D., Ph.D.
Marcelo O. Dietrich, M.D., Ph.D. 
Ramnik Xavier, M.D., Ph.D.  
Jing Ke Weng, Ph.D.  
Vijay Kuchroo, D.V.M., Ph.D.  
Seth Rakoff-Nahoum, M.D., Ph.D. 
Daniel Mucida, Ph.D.
Noah Palm, Ph.D.  
Andrew Wang, M.D., Ph.D., A.B. 
Ivan de Araujo , D.Phil.

Question Two

2. What drives allergic reactions and keeps the disease active?

Working to better understand, measure, treat

FASI investigates what drives reactions, why their severity varies, and what keeps food allergy active over time. We study why responses differ between people and why the same person can react differently on different occasions.

In many immediate reactions, antibodies called IgE recognize a food allergen and trigger immune cells called mast cells and basophils to release chemicals that cause symptoms. The skin and gut barriers can affect how much allergen enters the body. Signals exchanged between nerves and immune cells can intensify or restrain the response. Together, these processes can influence where symptoms appear, how quickly they develop, and how severe they become.

Researchers are looking for measurable signs, called biomarkers, that reveal which biological processes are driving a person’s disease. These clues could help clinicians assess disease activity, guide more precise treatment, and give researchers new ways to interrupt allergic reactions.

view research on what drives allergic reactions

Meet the scientists studying allergic reactions

Question Three

3. How can we build protection that lasts?

Changing what the immune system remembers

FASI is investigating how to change the immune memory that keeps food allergy active and restore tolerance, the ability to accept a food without an allergic reaction. This work is central to our pursuit of a cure.

Immune cells, including B cells, T cells, and cells that remain in tissues, can help sustain allergy. Some preserve the memory of an allergen; others produce antibodies or signals that keep the body ready to react. Treatment can increase how much of an allergenic food a person tolerates, but protection may fade when treatment stops.

FASI researchers compare immune responses that drive reactions with those that protect against them. They study antibodies that block allergens, cells whose allergic activity decreases, and processes that help the immune system tolerate food. Identifying signs of lasting protection could help clinicians recognize who is responding, adjust treatment earlier, and guide the development of therapies whose benefits endure.

view research on immune memory and tolerance

Meet the scientists studying immune memory and tolerance

Robert Anthony, Ph.D.
Isaac M. Chiu, Ph.D.
Duane Wesemann, M.D., Ph.D.
Ramnik Xavier, M.D., Ph.D.
Sarita Patil, , M.D.
Qian Yuan, M.D., Ph.D., FAAP
Daniel Dwyer, Ph.D.
Noah Palm, Ph.D.
Rima Rachid, M.D.
Daniel Mucida, Ph.D.

Connected questions demand connected science

The body’s barriers, microbes, immune cells, antibodies, and nerves interact at every stage of food allergy. The same systems can help explain how it begins, what drives a reaction, and whether protection lasts. FASI brings expertise across disciplines together to investigate these connections through five areas of biology.

Explore The Biology