Food Allergy Research in the Context of Mucosal Homeostasis and Immunity

Better understanding innate and adaptive immunity to dietary antigens and their integration with the neurosensory circuits operating at mucosal sites which together maintain the homeostatic balance between an organism's need to absorb nutrition while limiting damage from potentially harmful stimuli, such as toxins, while also maintaining appropriate immune defense and barrier function, is likely to provide new insight into the etiology of food allergy.

In addition, evidence has mounted that other epithelial interfaces, particularly the skin, play an important role in allergic sensitization to dietary antigens involving innate immune pathways that respond to and regulate barrier function. These integrated pathways operate in a wide range of contexts and no single academic field of study can adequately pursue the better understanding needed in isolation.

The 2020 Food Allergy Gordon Conference aims to stimulate discussion among investigators from multiple disciplines and disease areas to place Food Allergy research in the larger context and ideally advance collaborative science and new discoveries.