Accordingly, the major research objective of the SIAF are investigations on the immunological mechanisms of allergic and asthmatic diseases, in order to provide basic concepts to understand the nature of these diseases and fight against these inflammatory conditions. Most of the studies are performed in direct collaboration with the clinics of Davos but include also other collaborations. The projects at SIAF are exclusively based on human cell culture systems and involve animal models in collaboration. In particular, the cellular and molecular mechanisms of activation and suppression of allergic immune responses and development of chronic allergic inflammations are investigated. Allergens produced in their pure form are a prerequisite for reliable and standardized diagnostic procedures, but also in allergy research.
Most allergic conditions result from failure in the performance of the immune system.
Hence, it is also clear that prevention, diagnosis and successful treatment can only be achieved if the molecular and cellular basis of these diseases are fully understood. The aim of the SIAF is to study these immunological processes in the human being. The establishment of human cell culture systems from patient's material for the study of the cellular and molecular processes regulating the allergic and normal immune responses. The simple and rapid isolation of subpopulations of T cells and granulocytes from peripheral blood, BAL an biopsies at a high purity and without activation of the isolated cells. The application of modern methodology for the analysis of cells and subpopulations of cells and for investigations in protein biochemistry, molecular biology and cells signal transduction.