Menu:
Welcome to Professor Friedman's Lab!
The Department of Animal Sciences
The Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Enviroment
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
We are a group of immunologists interested in two topics:
- Structure, development and function of the intestinal immune system, commonly known as GALT (Gut Associated Lymphoid Tissue), in omnivorous birds.
- Peripheral tolerance, its generation and control.
These two topics are rather closely related in that peripheral tolerance may be induced following the oral intake of antigen (this form of tolerance is called Oral Tolerance). Currently, our major emphasis is in the investigation of:
- Development and function of the avian GALT.
- Immune and excretory functions of the cloacal bursa.
- Impairment of function in avian GALT following ingestion of mycotoxins.
- Mechanisms for oral tolerance in the omnivorous bird.
- Selection of B cell repertoire in the cloacal bursa by bacterial LPS and CpG.
- Characterization of immune response-related functions of the intestinal epithelium (enterocytes)
- Development of parameters to determine physiological stress in the chicken