About 40 researchers will gather in Barcelona to define different allergic diseases associated with IgE

Next 29th and 30th June about 40 researchers from around the world and who are part of the research project called MeDALL will meet again to define the different allergic diseases associated with IgE (asthma, rhinitis, eczema, food allergy and anaphylaxis) as well as their phenotypes (so-called classical phenotypes) from childhood to adolescence.

To achieve this goal during this expert meeting, to be held in conjunction with the collaborative centre of WHO (WHO Collaborative Centre for Asthma and Rhinitis) for asthma and rhinitis, will be presented current knowledge that exists in the scientific literature on these diseases.

In addition, researchers agree on the operational definitions corresponding to the classical phenotypes of these allergic diseases associated with IgE that apply to the birth cohorts of MeDALL. The resulting classic phenotypes along with new phenotypes proposed by the application of unsupervised statistical models will be the basis for defining the samples analyzed in the groups of experimental work (WPS 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9) .

A final goal will be to identify research needs in relation to the definition of allergic diseases associated with IgE that could be tackled in the context of MeDALL.

The coordinator of the project and CREAL director, Dr. Josep M. Antó, is convinced that "this meeting is an important step to reach the road to the definition and classification of allergic diseases."

MeDALL project

MeDALL is a research project funded with 11.9 million euros by the European Union in order to understand the reasons for the increase in cases of allergy observed in recent decades. This project, which arises of GALEN (European Network Global Allergy and Asthma), counts with the participation of 23 public and private institutions.

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News and MeDALL website