Even though I’m not affected by autoimmune disease myself, it has burdened me throughout my whole life. My late mom suffered debilitating pain from rheumatoid arthritis while struggling to perform daily tasks with her deformed joints. My son developed celiac disease at the age of two and has had to follow a strictly gluten-free diet ever since. He feels outcast in many social occasions and has to be constantly beware of risks of cross-contamination of his foods. He will never enjoy a regular pizza or beer with his friends unless a cure for his condition is found.
It always seems impossible until it's done. These immortal words by Nelson Madela give hope to millions of young people who suddenly face the prospect of lifelong misery caused by autoimmune disease. You can help make their dream of recovery come true. Please join me and support Dr. Alessio Fasano, Harvard Medical School Professor, in his research on autoimmunity and celiac disease in particular. As Dr. Fasano puts it: Celiac disease provides an enormously valuable model for understanding autoimmune disorders because it is the only example where the addition or removal of a single environmental component, gluten, can turn the disease process on and off.
The reason I chose Dr. Fasano is not only his world-class expertise on autoimmunity but most of all, his out-of-the-box thinking, hands-on approach and the courage to challenge the establishment. When he first arrived in the US, he had bought blood samples from the Red Cross out of his own funds and proved that celiac disease was as prevalent there as in Europe. With more funds he hired a computational biologist who uses machine learning to understand the role of the gut microbiom in celiac disease. Serendipitously, this work also shed new light at the role of gut permeability in the life-threatening multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children infected with the coronavirus. That’s why I think it’s always worth supporting scientific research - the next game-changer can be just around the corner waiting to be discovered. Don’t miss out on becoming a part of this great effort: donate today to Dr. Fasano’s Mucosal Immunology and Biology Research Center at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston!
