The race is underway to understand the complex mechanisms that underpin food allergy and develop effective treatments and a cure.
The Food Allergy Science Initiative (FASI), a non-profit established by the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, has united many leading researchers in the field in order to focus their efforts and promote collaboration, thereby accelerating progress in a host of clinical areas.
Their monthly seminar series covers a wide range of topics with a specific focus each year, this year on chemicals in our food and environment. If you’re looking to keep abreast of the latest in cutting-edge food allergy research, you’ll want to browse their archive of videos and attend the next presentation, entitled “Plant-Derived Adjuvants & Bioactive Molecules,” on May 6, 2025 at 12PM EDT.
I met FASI CEO Dr Carlos Bosques at this year’s AAAAI meeting and was so intrigued by their work that I asked him to come on to discuss the organization and the fascinating research they are doing on behalf of the food allergy community.
Here is a video of that conversation, followed by a complete transcript. If you were wondering whether food allergy research was making progress, watch this video and wonder no more:
Transcript
Dave Bloom, CEO, SnackSafely.com: Hi, I’m Dave Bloom CEO of SnackSafely.com. If you’re unfamiliar with what we do, we cover all things food allergy, whether that’s research into therapies and a cure, legislation, school policies, general advocacy, we will constantly remind you to take your epinephrine… So if you have a food allergy or if you care for someone who does, you’ll want to be following us.
Back in March, I attended the AAAAI conference in San Diego and I had the pleasure of meeting Carlos Bosques, who is the CEO of the Food Allergy Science Initiative, otherwise known as FASI. It fascinated me to learn of all the work that they’re doing to progress research into the causes of food allergy, as well as looking for treatments and a cure.
So I asked him to come on and discuss what FASI does. And here is that interview. I hope you enjoy it.
Carlos, welcome. Thanks for joining us today.
Carlos Bosques, CEO, Food Allergy Science Initiative: Thank you, Dave. It’s an honor and pleasure to be here with you and looking forward to the discussion.
Dave: It’s my pleasure.
Let’s start off by telling us, please tell us a little bit about yourself, your background, how you came to be the CEO of FASI.
Carlos: Absolutely, Dave, a pleasure. So first of all, I think what you should know, I’m actually a scientist by training, Dave. I did my PhD in biological chemistry at MIT and post doctoral training also at MIT in biological engineering
This was many, many years ago. And after that, I have really spent close to two decades in the pharma and biotech world, especially discovering and developing technologies and therapies for treating many different diseases. Specifically, I’ve spent a good portion of that time really studying the immune system, and similar to what we face today in food allergies, especially, I really focus on studying why the immune system starts deviating from its normal function of defending ourselves, from viruses and bacteria, and instead starts attacking our own bodies.
You know, why does the immune system start to attack things that they should not attack and trigger devastating impacts in humans? You know, especially, for example, attacking our tissues, attacking our organs. Like it is in the case of lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, and so those are some of the kinds of things that I really struggle and work on for many years.
And I was very intrigued about that. But more importantly, I was blessed with the opportunity to work with incredible teams and lead teams in the industry in biotech and pharma, focusing on not only why is this happening, why does the immune system start to attack things they shouldn’t, like similar to the to the case of food allergies.
But how can we take that learning and discovering, engineer and discover and develop therapies to try to tackle the problem of, in that case, autoimmune diseases? So something that is very close to my heart and trying to address. More importantly, at a personal level, I actually have a food allergy, which I developed as an adult, about 15 years ago. And so in 2022, I was really fortunate. I had the opportunity to meet, you know, incredibly committed founder of FASI,
Dave: So let’s dive a little bit into what FASI does, and why it’s so important to the food allergy community.
So you’ve been working with the organization for roughly three years?
Carlos: Yeah. So. Absolutely. So let me tell you, maybe what I’ll do is I’ll summarize who FASI is, and then it may be worth and working back a little bit and telling you about the history of FASI, where we started, where we are, where we’re heading. So in summary, the Food Allergy Science Initiative, or FASI for short, is a nonprofit research engine focused 100% on food allergy research, with one vision: finding a cure for food allergies. So FASI was founded as part of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, I don’t know if you’re familiar with the Broad Institute.
We started in 2016 with the Broad, and we’ve built a team of close to 100 scientists that come together to discuss their science every two weeks. FASI has already funded over $41 million in research over the last nine years. 41.4 I think it is the right number, to be exact. We have funded 126 grants across top scientific institutions like Harvard, Yale, the Broad Institute, MDH and many others.
And this investment has already led to more than 100 discoveries in food allergy science. And those have been already validated, peer reviewed, and those discoveries are already published. People can go to our website and see it. So in summary, founded in 2016, over 100 scientists in our network, $41 million in research that has been funded, 126 grants and over 100 discoveries in the last nine years.
So really excited about about what we’re doing. But maybe, let me take you to a little bit longer journey and to tell you more about exactly how FASI started and where we are and where we’re going. So really fast. It was born from, unfortunately, personal crisis and also some scientific curiosity. Six families from the Boston area, including our incredible leaders like Doctor Chris Olson, who’s a radiation oncologist at MDH, and Doctor David Altshuler, who is the CSO Vertex, really came together after unfortunately experiencing life threatening allergic reactions with their own kids, and the lack of answers was just unacceptable. And so we’re really fortunate because these people came together to say, “hey, we we need to tackle this head on.” And, and, you know, they were also frustrated with the fact that there was very limited funding at that point.
When you go back to 2016, there was very limited funding in federal government for food allergy research, lack of effective therapies, very little on known about food allergy science. So that’s what’s motivated this incredible team to take matters into their own hands and try to tackle the problem head-on. And so the idea at that point was very aggressive: “Hey, the community deserves more. We need to lead. If we lead others will join.” And so, that was the idea, the guiding principle of FASI was simple and a proven… and it’s really a proven model in other diseases: In order to cure disease you need to understand it first. It’s really important. Without a deeper understanding of the biology behind it, it is difficult to find a cure and likely impossible.
So FASI then was started by this incredible group in 2016 at the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT with one vision: creating a world free of food allergies. Hopefully going out of business because who will find a cure. And so the first achievement of FASI was to bring a visionary scientific leader, and that was Doctor Ruslan Medzhitov.
And for those of you that don’t know, Ruslan, in addition to being one of the best people I’ve ever worked with, he is one of the top immunologists in the world, and his work has already led to big impacts in the field of antibiotics, vaccines, and even cancer therapies. So it was amazing to be able to bring someone of the caliber of Ruslan to really lead the scientific strategy for FASI.
So a second achievement was to actually build a unique collaborative research engine comprised of some of the best neuroscientists, microbiologists, immunologists, gastroenterologists and other clinical researchers. And so Ruslan was actually responsible for bringing the best people… not because of money, but really because everyone was highly motivated in tackling a big scientific problem. So that led to bringing together 21 of the top scientists in those corresponding fields along with their laboratories.
So we build an engine of close to 100 scientists. And then the idea was to unite this as that research engine, right, with one mission. And the mission for FASI has been since 2016, to accelerate the development of breakthrough discoveries, to transform the lives of people living with food allergies. So Ruslan comes in, the engine is built.
And now this research engine model enables, you know, working together, enable what I call an amplification effect, where one plus one does not equal two, but one plus one can actually become, you know, the answer can be five, because when the work can be done together, synchronized with a clear strategy and people coming together, you have 100 scientists coming together every two weeks to exchange their ideas on published materials, and they’re all working together on accelerating the research.
Now, you get that amplification effect where the science can actually move a lot faster and more effectively. So starting in 2016 at the Broad, we became… FASI became an independent nonprofit organization, in 2021. And today we’re laser focused on one goal: turning groundbreaking research into transformative therapies. And as you well know, Dave, with 33 million Americans living with food allergies, hope isn’t enough. The need for science at work is that’s what’s needed, and that’s what we did. So, with the last nine years, the team has been working together and, you know, especially in many areas of food allergies, all the way from understanding how that first interaction between the allergen or food chemicals, how are those detected by our bodies, how the microbiome interacts with that food and processes the food and how it impacts the development of food allergies.
And a very unique area that I’ll tell you more details later, is actually understanding how the gut and the brain communicate together through the phases of food allergies and finally doing clinical studies to advance food allergy biomarkers and treatment. So, today we have already, you know, we’ve revolutionized the field of food allergies. And I can tell you more about some of the scientific areas that we have been able to revolutionize with this progress and this work.
And we have actually made great progress. So, as I told you, the origin of FASI with the idea of “if we build it and we lead it, others will join”, I think this model has proven already effective, you know, with a $40 million of investment and all the research and all the work that we have been able to to make progress, we’ve actually have, already triggered the the NIH to join us in actually one of the largest grants for collaborative research in food allergy in the area of the connection between the gut and the brain, the communication between the gut and the brain. And so NIH has actually become a partner with us to advance the field of neuroimmunology of food allergies. Today, we are at a great inflection point in FASI. We are now, you know, all this work that we have been doing for nine years.
We’re now at a great inflection point where we’re ready to start harvesting some of those scraps and turning, you know, right, groundbreaking research into real-world therapeutic strategies. For example, FASI has now expanded the research engine to incorporate industry experts to lead the development of therapeutic strategies. And as the CEO of FASI, I’m just super excited about the next five years of this organization, where we would actually now start seeing transformative solutions for the field of food allergies.
So let me stop there. Hopefully that addresses your question, but happy to go in any direction you want.
Dave: Oh, absolutely. So, let me make sure I completely understand. You have assembled a team of researchers, and basically you meet with the with this team every other week, and you are embarking upon a set of research.
Do I have that right?
Carlos: Yes, yes it is. It’s a highly integrated team. We’re not just funding the team. We are part of the work with the internal scientists. And, you know, we’re part of the action.
Dave: Got it. And much of what you’re trying to accomplish here is to have your team collaborate on the work that they’re doing so that you’re pulling ideas and research from your various team members, bringing them together, hopefully seeding other innovations.
Carlos: Yes, the team is working together very collaboratively. So we are laser-focused on research. And instead, we’re not really a crown maker, you know, on like, grant-making foundations to fund projects. We are actively involved in the science itself. We just don’t fund the idea… We shape it, we test it, we advance them with collaboration of scientists from academia, but also internal scientists within FASI with experience in drug discovery and drug development to help advance these ideas.
Dave: Let’s pull back, and let’s look at FASI in the realm of food allergy nonprofits. Tell me a little bit about how you find FASI distinguishes itself from the other players in the field.
Carlos: Absolutely. Great question, great question. And I get that question a lot. So, a couple of things. So number one, FASI is laser-focused on research. You know, advocacy, family support, education, research… really important for the food allergy community. And we’re very thankful for all the organizations that focus on that. It has got us to where we are today, which is a big improvement over where we were ten years ago.
So thank you for all the organizations that do that amazing work. We leave that to others that can do it better than us. FASI is 100% focused on research because, as we know, advocacy and education is not enough. We’ve got to do more. So FASI was built to fill a different gap, a different, critical gap of the ecosystem. We’re science’s first nonprofit research engine run by scientists focused entirely on driving therapeutic breakthroughs.
So that’s number one. And the second one is we’re not a grant-maker. That was clear from the beginning. FASI was formed on ground-making foundations, the goal of which is to fund Individuals. FASI is actively involved in the process of research itself. We don’t just fund the idea.
We shape it, we test it, we advance it, and we build… that’s why we built this national research team, including investigators across many different areas. Like I told you, immunology, neuroscience, that technology, microbiology, clinical researchers and this isn’t just a loose network. So we operate as a biotech, and in an integrated R&D engine model.
So our investigators — and Dave, this is very impressive, maybe you should come, to one of our biweekly meetings — we have about 100 by the way…
Dave: Let me stop you. I would love that…
Carlos: Yeah. Yes, absolutely. So we have about a hundred scientists coming together from all these incredible institutions that I told you about. Meet biweekly, share insights, co-develop experiments, exchange tools, and challenge the assumptions in real time.
And that levels across, you know, this is across institutions and it’s entirely unique for food allergies and part of this really comes from the top. I hope you have the opportunity to meet our scientific founder, Ruslan Medzhitov at some point. One of the things that I’ve known… I’ve worked with… One of the challenges I’ve experienced over the last 20 years working in science is sometimes the egos get in the way.
Well, Ruslan has an incredible… not only his incredible expertise and his accolades in science, but is one of the most humbled guys that you will ever meet. And so his idea is, if you’re not willing to share information and collaborate, then you shouldn’t be here. And so that permeates through our organization where all these scientists, incredible scientists, they come together, leave their egos outside the door, and they come together.
They share unpublished data just because everyone is really aligned and committed. If we want advances, we have to share it. But if it’s not published and we have to collaborate and it just triggers, it is just amazing to see… Again, I’ve worked for a long time on this, and I’ve never seen such a collaborative team that are well synchronized, that are exchanging protocols or exchanging animal models, all the tools that our field needed, this group was building it. But then you can build it faster because there’s no duplication of efforts. Right. So we also invest in the infrastructure needed to accelerate the discovery, the research tools, and trying to do this more rigorously and more reproducibly, right? When you have studies and sharing materials, things become more reproducible and more rigorous.
The other thing that sets us apart is our commitment to translational research. Our mission isn’t just to understand why food allergies happen. That’s really important, but it’s really to stop them. So, in order to do that, we prioritize projects that can lead to real world applications and solutions. That can lead to discoveries that would actually push the boundaries in diagnostics, drug targets, and ultimately, therapies.
And so we are already making great progress on that. And so where some — not all — organizations are a little bit more isolated, you know, their hope, is that some of the organizations of the industry will step in. One of the big differences, we are actually building the pipeline ourselves. And so, you know, from early discovery through clinical development, FASI operates with the urgency and the focus of a biotech company but with the mission and the heart of a nonprofit. This is really personal to us starting, well, I would not say starting for me, but many of us, many of the team, our founders, our members, most of them have been really impacted by food allergies. And I can tell you many stories or, about it, but, they’re really devastating stories.
So, so this isn’t just an abstract to us. It’s really personal. It’s really personal. It’s urgent. And so it’s amazing to have this community of scientists that are not only incredible at what they’re doing, but it is, you know, it’s personal to them. Many of them are still highly affected by food allergies.
Dave: So, FASI, if I’m correct, FASI sort of sits at the head of this effort and is shaping, the work that you folks do.
So, obviously, you don’t have unlimited resources. It would be wonderful if you did. But tell us a little bit about how you decide on which projects and which initiatives you undertake, given that you have limited resources.
Carlos: Yes. I wish we had unlimited resources, and that would be amazing. But we’ve been very fortunate to have a lot of support from people that are highly committed.
So how do we… to answer your question… how do we select projects? So, everything we do at FASI is really grounded in three big questions, three big fundamental questions. Number one, why do people develop food allergies? Second, what triggers a severe reaction? And third, why are some people tolerant while others are not? Those are our three guiding questions.
And everything that we do… it’s guided every funding decision, guided by these three questions. So our goal is not to manage food allergies, but to solve it. Right. And so what it means is we are really looking at the root cause of the disease, not just the symptoms. And so based on that, we have our internal scientific team, and myself and many others in our team, including our scientific founder, Ruslan Medzhitov, an incredible scientific advisory board composed of leaders from top research institutions, biotech and pharma.
We all together evaluate the potential projects based on novelty, feasibility and alignment with our goal of finding a cure, so we also identify gaps in the field and proactively build infrastructure and collaborations needed to address it. So sometimes you have to go and take a step to the side and say, “you’re never going to be able to develop therapies unless you have these tools. Let’s go build those tools,” and then that can become available to the industry and to other partners. And so unlike most funders, we stay in both. We don’t actually… don’t just write a check, we help advance it. So our team is actually highly integrated. We are involved in the planning of the experiments, we’re involved in the collection of samples, of clinical samples, running some of the studies and creating that infrastructure.
Dave: So you have a lot of work going on simultaneously.
Can you tell us about some of the research or some of the development your folks have done that have already borne fruit?
Carlos: Yes. Yes, absolutely. And I am excited… when it comes to the science I’ll try to not go to the… because I get obviously very excited about the science.
But, you know, we have launched many different transformative research programs that are delivering already key insights that will shape the future of therapies. And I’m very excited about that. And all of these are guided into our model, we call it: “understand, translate, intervene.” That’s the way we operate to understand, translate and intervene. Those are the three components that are necessary to really advance the research.
And so that together with the three questions that I just mentioned before. Right. So the first one, let me just give you an example. The first one was, “hey, why do people develop food allergies?” And so one key project that is very impactful and is having a big impact already is what we call Project Safe, where investigators are identifying how chemicals in the food and the environment, like additives and over-the-counter medications, may be altering the immune response and increasing our likelihood of developing food allergies.
And as you may know, we actually have a seminar series, Dave, that we do monthly. And every year we set a topic and we talk, we have 12 discussions with 12 experts of the field to talk about that topic. Last year was “How do you develop the therapy?”, this year is specifically around this topic of “why are people developing? Why? So why such an increase in food allergies over the last decades?” And specifically around these observations from our investigators that are identifying mechanisms of how some of the chemicals in food in the environment are sensitizing our body to increase our probability of developing food allergies, is a topic that we’ve been discussing for the last 12 months.
We still have a few more. That would be great if you can join us on those. And we do this every month. And so this work, for example, is urgently needed because unfortunately, the impact of these chemicals may go unrecognized for many years before people develop food allergies or other chronic disorders. And so, that’s one of the areas of work that our investigators are focusing on.
And just the data is amazing. So question number two, which was what triggers the severe reaction? So this is one of the most interesting, personally, the areas of research that we’ve been doing and we’ve been having a big impact on this, is understanding what we call the neuroimmune signaling. One of our most exciting high-impact programs has uncovered a previously unrecognized link between the nervous system and the immune system in food allergy is this program. And for example, investigators… And so in summary, what we’re doing here is identifying and learning about all the communications between the brain and the gut and how that is that involved in food allergy. So, for example, our investigators have identified specific populations of neurons that are activated during food allergen exposure and that directly trigger the immune system.
And so this research, which has been published in Science, Nature, Cell and Immunity, is a complete paradigm shift, as I see it, from a scientific point of view, because it completely transformed the way that we could attack food allergies in the future. For example, you know, we’ve always thought, and it has been described, that food allergies are a reaction of the immune system… is a problem with the immune system.
Well, now we understand that it’s really the immune system and the nervous system working together synchronously to really develop the food allergy and also to develop the reaction. And in fact, this is one of the key areas where we have actually… I could say our FASI investigators have pioneered and has allowed us to trigger what I mentioned before, the NIH, to partner with us with one of the largest grants ever made in food allergies.
And we’re very excited to work with the NIH to push this field forward. Then finally, the question number three, right. The last question that I, that I mentioned, and it’s our guiding principle, why are some people tolerant and while others are not? And so there are several things bearing fruit here. Understanding what leads to better response in oral immunotherapy.
Dave, as you as you can imagine, it’s very helpful as you know, oral immunotherapy has been great for the food allergy community. You know, a new paradigm in terms of how to treat food allergies. But unfortunately, as we know, it has its limitation and we are able now to understand what drives responses to it.
And if we… if we well, actually, I should say we’re learning what are the drivers… what drives the response to oral immunotherapy is, you know, not everyone can have a good response to oral immunotherapy or a sustained response to oral immunotherapy. So if we were able to understand that, what drives the response, I think we can make better therapies, better-designed therapies for that.
So some of our investigators are working in this area and some of the results are already bearing fruit. For example, one of them has been the identification of specific antibodies. This is actually starting people in clinical studies. In undergoing OIT, our investigators have identified specific antibodies in patients treated with OIT that are associated with a good response.
So as you can imagine, those antibodies now that are predictive of a good response, you could actually use them to start developing therapeutic strategies that are more effective. That’s one of them. And the second one is, really understanding how the microbiome is communicating with our gut and how is that impacting the immune response to allergens. And our team is doing a lot of work on the microbiome, a lot of new insights in the microbiome.
And people can go and see some of the publications that our team has done in the microbiome. And we’re in fact, now funding one of the first clinical studies evaluating the use of the microbiome to impact the response of oral immunotherapy. So this is new work in clinical trials, and we’re very excited about it. So hopefully that answers your questions, Dave. But happy to go into more detail.
Dave: No, for sure it does. And in fact we published one article today about some Yale research into how food allergies could develop from injuries to the skin, which was fascinating to me because, apparently, there is a connection between actually injuring your skin and possibly developing a food allergy from food you consume.
So I found this fascinating, and my understanding is FASI did some of the funding there as well.
Carlos: Yes. So that is an… I’m very excited about that work. This is actually work by Andrew Wong and his collaborator. So Andrew Wong is an exceptional FASI principal investigator we’ve been working with for many years.
And yes, it’s amazing how, you know, there’s a question of how you develop food allergies, but it’s not because you ate a peanut and all of a sudden you’re going to have a food allergy. The idea here is that part of the hypothesis has been that there’s some other triggers that now sensitize us to be able to react to that allergen.
And Andrew Wong and his investigators have done an amazing job of understanding how the impact on the skin and trauma to the skin and the mechanisms and the synchronicity, the timing, the location that a stimuli on the skin, can actually make you reactive to an allergen that is actually, ingested. And so, thanks for bringing that up.
One of the great science discoveries that some of our team have been working on. And we’re very excited that that was published. He has a lot more things coming up that, I’m super excited. Hopefully we’ll talk more about them when when they become available in the public domain.
Dave: Fascinating… and, scary!
But all leading hopefully to treatments and a cure. So very excited about that. Maybe you can look forward just a little bit and give us a little bit of insight into things that you’re especially excited about that are coming from FASI.
Carlos: Well, so, there are many. There are many. You know, the science that’s happening at FASI is mind-blowing.
And I just say humbly, as a scientist, I just respect so much the science that is ongoing. Because it’s just really way, way advanced and very robust. So maybe, I’ll say there’s probably a few things. One of the most exciting, personally, to me, is… one of the most exciting parts of this is that, you know, we’re now starting to apply these discoveries that we’ve been making and we’re starting to transition into novel therapeutic initiatives.
And so, for example, and I would say one of the most exciting parts, is the brain and gut connection that I talk about, the neuroimmunology, because this is just opening a complete new field of research that didn’t exist before. It allows us to think about food allergies, the science of food allergies in a very unique way.
And if you are now seeing this new door, it opens the door completely. Now, my hope is that we can start attacking the disease in a very different way, and that can open the door for more successful therapies. And so that transition that now, with all the investment that has been made into breakthrough discoveries, that we can start now pulling some of those new discoveries to allow us to tackle the disease in very novel ways that are not just out there, but that allow us to tackle them.
And so, one area specifically that I am very excited about is some of the work that we’re starting to do, leveraging this knowledge to developing and designing novel desensitization strategies, specifically, allergen-agnostic desensitization strategies. As you know, most people don’t have one food allergy. One of our one of our team members, her son unfortunately, has over 13 food allergies.
And so oh, it’s great. But when you have, multiple allergies, it’s difficult to really tackle that and to treat that. And so, you know, one of the areas that we’ve been working on is how to develop optimal allergen-agnostic desensitization strategies that really could provide sustained response. And so the team is already now working on something that, if it’s successful, would be very interesting and very revealing, could potentially be a game changer for treating people with food allergies and especially with multiple food allergies.
Early… I would you know, I like to be very honest… early, but we’re working on that and we’re actually starting to make progress. But I’m really just excited that all of this is not just isolated academic research. They’re really part of an integrated research plan and process, similar to that we’ve done in the industry, and the team has done in pharma and biotech for many years, of how you take a problem, deconstruct it, go through all the checkpoints of what it takes to develop a therapy. Which is not only a cool idea — as you know, unfortunately, I wish cool ideas were therapies and they’re very different — and how do you actually pass that through a robust selection process to know that if you’re working on this and you’re investing on this, there’s a line of sight to a therapy. I’ve done this for close to 20 years. I know how difficult it is to build therapies. They’re not just ideas. It’s actually, how do you… what are you going to be able to walk through everything to get it into a market is a very difficult exercise.
And now, with the team that we have, we can actually operate in that fashion and be very selective about how we choose those programs and how we move them forward.
Dave: The work that you’re doing — you know better than most — the work that you’re doing is hugely expensive. Research takes a lot of resources, and we’re talking about tens of millions of dollars.
So, tell us a little bit about — you already told us that you’re working with the NIH, and they’re providing some funding there — how do you get the lion’s share of your funding? Is that through institutions, through individual sponsors? How does that work?
Carlos: Yeah, yeah. Now, great and great question, Dave. So the heart of the science of FASI — it’s really the heart of FASI — it’s really the individual donors and especially families that are affected by food allergies that know that science is the solution to a big challenge. Right. And so first of all, I want to take a moment to thank everyone, all of you, all the parents of and people that are partnered with FASI on our quest to tackle food allergy with innovative science.
We don’t take this for granted. We’re working fast and hard to achieve our goals, and we’re deeply grateful for the people that are responsible to get us where we are. We wouldn’t be here without those committed people that truly believe that this is not a simple thing, that this takes commitment and energy and focus to get to our goal.
And we’ve been blessed by having many people as partners with us for a long time. And so the support of donors is really what allows us to tackle, you know, scientific risks, fund big ideas that traditionally government or industry would not fund. And so for every dollar, you know, it helps to get us one step closer to the goal.
One important thing is that since our inception, Dave, in 2016, thanks to an incredibly committed partner who pays for all our operational expenses, 100% of every single penny that is actually given to FASI as a donation goes directly to research.
So, we’ve been again, blessed with the opportunity to have one, one committed, partner that pays for operational expenses. And so every, every single penny has been going of 40, $41 million that I mentioned. Everything has been going to research. And so what is unique about this? So we operate, I told you as a biotech in terms of the scientific strategy, but we are very nimble.
So we’re a small operating team. Everyone wears multiple hats and you can interview every single person in our team and they will tell you everything that we do in a week. And everyone is just really pushing forward because we’re all really on this together and we’re very committed. And our hope is similar to what we just did — this is why I’m so excited that this partnership with the NIH validates our model — is that some of the work that we’re doing can now get us… and some of the work that is funded by our incredible partners… get us to a point that now it allows us to to apply and receive other sorts of funding, like grants, as in the NIH, or that some of the therapies that we are developing then will actually go into public domain and will also help us.
Dave: I think we have a much better idea of what FASI all about.
Is there anything that we haven’t covered that you want our readers and our watchers to know?
Carlos: Well, first, Dave, thank you for having me today. Really appreciate the opportunity to tell you and tell people about, the Food Allergy Science Initiative. I hope people see and feel, the legitimate excitement. Not because I work for FASI, but, you know, as a scientist that has been trying to understand and tackle the problems of the immune system for over 20 years.
And as a, you know, as an actually food allergy individual, this is personal to us and I hope people can see… learn more about what we’re doing, can join us in our seminar series. And also we have a symposium every year at the Broad Institute that brings over 300 people together to discuss incredible scientific topics. We’re going to have one in September, so I hope people can see the reality of an amazing organization that I’m very proud of leading at this moment. So I would just say, you know, FASI was built by scientists, driven by urgency, and its focus on a cure.
And it’s just more than a nonprofit organization. I hope that people understood with this discussion that we are a research engine. And we have a highly collaborative model that allows us to accelerate science in an effective way, in a very effective way, with our team of over 21 investigators and over 100 research scientists. Really, this discussing collaboratively integrated every two weeks sharing data, tools, insights essential to push the boundaries of science.
So we bring that. I hope people see that we bring that scientific legitimacy to this space. And, you know, this is not a hobby for us. This is a kind of rigorous work that is needed to change the field. And so we are in a great position right now. We build the infrastructure of the field, we built the team, the minds.
And we are in a great position now, that I’m really optimistic that we’re going to be able to transform the field of food allergies. We know the fear, we live the uncertainty, and we are building the science we wish existed many years ago. So now is the time. If you believe that food allergies can be curable, and you want to be part of the solution, FASI is where the science and the cure is happening. And I hope everyone is compelled to join us in this journey. Not an easy journey, but it is something that as more more people come together, I’m going to be more and more confident that we’re going to be able to solve.
Dave: Thanks so much, Carlos. You’ve made me much more optimistic during this time we’ve been speaking. I appreciate time you’ve taken, and thanks very much.
Carlos: Thanks to you, Dave. Pleasure.
