Allergy and Clinical Immunology
James Cook University
Food allergy affects 1 in every 10 kids in Australia. Allergies to peanuts, shellfish and fish are not outgrown by children and continues into adulthood often causing severe allergic reactions. Currently there are no vaccines or treatments available for allergies, and avoidance of the offending food is the only preventative method. However, severe reactions can be caused by accidental ingestion of the tiniest amount of allergenic food. Dr Kamath’s research is focused on developing a type of vaccine called immunotherapy for food allergies. This vaccine works by slowly but steadily training the immune system of the allergy sufferer to ‘tolerate’ small amounts of the allergenic food, which will be to help affected people to tolerate accidental allergen exposure, without any severe reactions, providing enough time to receive medical attention.
In 2015, Sandip was the Australian national winner of FameLab and represented Australia at the grand finals held in the UK. He has participated in over 15 television/ radio discussions and interviews, and newspaper articles talking about the impact of food allergy in Australia, including ABC24 Morning Show and ABC ‘The Science Show’.