Today’s inbox brought an invitation to Cappadocia: three days on epithelial barriers, the microbiome and planetary health. I had assumed my column on the epithelial barrier theory would keep me safely off that list.

Instead I found myself recipient number 361 in an unhidden To: field, which is itself a nice demonstration of barrier dysfunction.

(email domains removed, deduplicated list)

From: Ismail Ogulur <ismail.ogulur@siaf.uzh.ch>
To: ismail.ogulur, ahaber, nacevedoc, emma.wincent, piia.karisola, joseph.ndika, hanna.sinkko, chudk, jatodd, lars-olaf.cardell, christoff_g, M.Hyland, hstanleykim, stanley.szefler, R.A.Scheltema, mcasanovas, paul.lavender, cmma, acrc, mariamontserrat.fernandez, Marianne.van.Hage, Martin.Himly, joerg.lehmann, markus.kleinewietfeld, mjp, clive.page, frg, maria.bech, Tania.Maes, bayry, lbosca, mercedes.gomez, greta.guarda, hanif.javanmard, carlo.caffarelli, nbarrett, saadia.kerdine-romer, alexandrafigueirasantos, tomas.slisz, valerian.dormoy, hirotaja, jvortega2002, mathieu.coureuil, s.huber, A.ten.Brinke, kim.tu.vn, tuyetlanyds, drarturo, nuray.bayar, Nina.D’Vaz, Liz.Starcevich, aanowak, dirk.brenner, oscar.palomares, gudrun.weinmayr, sfw, Stacy.Weisberg, soott.weiss, maria.weitoft, michael-welsh, welte.tobias, Andrea_milnewenderlich, goran.wennergren, werfel.thomas, christina.west, marit.westman, paul.whitaker, kristin.wickens, magnus.wickman, Alicia.Widge, Pascal.Wild, christoph.wilhelm, pwilku, l.e.m.willemsen, tim.williams, wilson, jbwing, lone.winther, owirz, wohld, woehrl, wollenberg, roel.klein.wolterink, hkwonmd, ck-wong, wingkinwong, ashley.woodcock, jaw4m, harm.wopereis, margitta.worm, grzegorz.woszczek, wright.benjamin, rerjw, piotr.wroczynski, aywu, Ann.Wu, dongmeiwu, jbwucn1996, joyce.wu, wuzhihua, reinhard.wuerzner, Matthias.Wymann, y.xi2, zhengxuag, Damo.Xu, gzxur2708, luzheng.xue, yamamoto-k, yamanishi.mbch, yanyan9996, sagami, b.d.yang, Ian.Yang, j.yang, yangkd.yeh, peizengycmu, pcy2356, yaoc1010, s1130465, yazawa, reza_yazdani86, myazicioglu, sungtae, daniel.yerly, rae.yeung, oender.yildirim, yokomizo-tky, Yonkkang, LYONKER, ydy4218, cmcyhg, ivana.yang, gpsoy, jeyu74, yingxin.yu, qyuan, ayuce, james.yun, a.zahirovic, asiyazaidia, jzakzuks, ZARYAN, robert.s.zeiger, zeldin, krzysztof.zeman, olatz.zenarruzabeitiabelaustegui, hannah.zenker, zh_gm, dr.luozhang, sz, taozhang, wenmingz, zyy, zhaozuotaotao, tzheng, stefan.zielen, christina.zielinski, alexander.zink, torsten.zuberbier, c.zubrinich, zychlinsky, wdvandeveen, m.van.den.berge, nicole.van_der_burg, hvdkleij, C.M.vanDrunen, f.c.vanerp, m.vanmaaren, avmuylem, joost.vanneerven, vannunen, L.S.vanrijt, menno.vanzelm, ghsv, laura.vangerven, jdv27, pvarshney, martina.vasakova, katerina.vavrova, marta.vazquez.ortiz, tsvelikova, lennart.venemalm, carina.venter, sylvia.verbanck, donata, valerie.verhasselt, kitty.verhoeckx, giuseppe.verlato, alokverma21, mvermani, bpvicke, carmen.vidal.pan, viegig, stefan.vieths, s.j.vijverberg, mvillalba, alma.villasenor, jc.h.virchow, YVIRKUD, massimo.vitale, jvitte, b.vlieg-boerstra, marc.vocanson, david.voehringer, Lothar.Vogel, jens.stein, avb.rodehorst, Christophe.vonGarnier, stephan.vongunten, laura.vonkobyletzki, linstow, erika.von.mutius, l.udraite, robert_voyksner, sarah.vreugde, susanne.vrtala, vultaggioalessandra, Martin.Wagenmann, ulrich.wahn, christineyywai, Brynn.Wainstein, swalker, drdanawallace, elizabeth.wallace, Alexandra.Wallimann, g.m.walton, entwdy, de_yun_wang, xjwgang, wang_guifang08, wanghewen99, ijong, julie.wang, lixinwang99, wangm, entwxd, yichao.wang, aw24, peter.wark, klaus.warnatz, christopher.warren, ewasilewska, pwatkins, kewatters, tania.watts, robert.h.wauters.mil, marcin.wawrzyniak, paulina.wawrzyniak, richard.weaver, twebb, WechslerM, mikewechsler, wedi.bettina, wegrzyn.as, julie.weidner, edwin, denise.tambourgi, b-tan, ge.tan, tanakaa, akane, tyq003, mimi.tang, luciana.tanno, Kelan.Tantisira, btarini, tarran, Christian.Taube, tasadachisato, tunn_ren_tay, bineymt, timothy.j.taylor, m914674227, a_tenbrinke, n.h.t.ten.hacken, vinayt, Falko.Tesch, frederic.tessier, tezuka, diamant.thaci, vthannickal, frank.thien, j.thijs, paul.thomas, Wayne.Thomas, B.Thompson, bernard_thong, bth50, loreen.thuermann, jacob.pontoppidan.thyssen, alex.tihonoff, s.till, guillermotil, signe.timm, teresa.to, r.e.m.toes, martin.tollinger, peter.tomassen, peter.tomazic, tomlinss, d.p.tonge, sanna.salmi, leticia.tordesillas, mjtorresj, torres.tiago, tost, tour, traidl.stephan, claudia.traidl-hoffmann, g.tramper, maxwell.tran, trautmann_a, myrtotrianti, mtriggiani, mtrzeciak, stsabouri, tsakanova, anne.tsicopoulos, ol.tsilochristou, sophia.tsoka, kwtsui, gakku, Ellen.Tufvesson, y.turk, p.turkeltaub, p.turner, riitta.turunen, sturvey, cbennett10, damian.tworek, ueki-shige, ukleja, lena.uller, sullrich, csulrik, eva.untersmayr, j.upham, julia.upton, o.usmani, Wolfgang.Uter, vachovam, pv4588, Michael.vaezi, peter.valent, rudolf.valenta, pvtomazic, anna.valerieva, valero, maria.valkonen, gloria.vallejo, roccoluigi.valluzzi, Erkka.Valovirta, paevbhps, cezmi.akdis

Dear Colleagues,

We are delighted to announce that the EAACI Symposium on Epithelial Barriers, Microbiome and Planetary Health 2026 will be held from 1-3 October 2026 in Cappadocia, Türkiye.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cappadocia

On behalf of the Scientific Programme Committee chairs, Cezmi Akdis (Editor-in-Chief Allergy) and Ismail Ogulur (Chair EAACI epithelial cell biology working group), we would like to invite you to participate in this symposium. We believe that your expertise and scientific contributions would greatly enrich the scientific programme.

Please find the preliminary programme at the link below:

https://www.epithelialbarriertheory.com/events

Venue: Cappadocia Marriott Hotel

https://www.marriott.com/en-us/hotels/navmc-cappadocia-marriott-hotel/overview/

Main topics and speakers:

Immune and epithelial mechanisms in allergic diseases

Dr. Mohamed Shamji and Dr. Clare M Loyd

Epitelial barrier and immune pathways driving allergic diseases

Dr. Maria Torres and Dr. Umit Sahiner

Modeling and mechanisms of epithelial barrier function

Dr. Sandra Citi and Dr. Ozlem Celik-Yesiltas

Epithelial injury and microbiota-driven regulation of immune responses

Dr. Ali Onder Yildirim and Dr. Jonathan M. Coquet

Environmental and planetary drivers of epithelial barrier dysfunction in allergic diseases

Dr. Cezmi Akdis and Dr. Ruby Pawankar

Metabolism and biomarkers in allergic inflammation

Dr. Milena Sokolowska and Dr. Ibon Eguiluz Gracia

Mucosal homeostasis and epithelial barrier function in gut and lung

Dr. Nicola Harris and Dr. Ismail Ogulur

Microbial and dietary influences on allergic inflammation

Dr. Oscar Palomeras and Dr. Rodrigo Jimenez Saiz

Environmental regulation of epithelial barrier integrity and the microbiome in allergic diseases

Dr. Arzu Bakirtas and Dr. Claudia Traidl-Hoffmann

The symposium will be officially announced on the EAACI website within the next few days. Following the announcement, abstract submission will open through the official EAACI symposium webpage.

The aim of this symposium is to explore the critical role of epithelial cells and their interaction with the microbiome and immune system at the barrier interface between humans and their environment and to highlight how global changes, including climate stressors, pollution, and biodiversity loss, affect barrier integrity and human health. By bringing together leading international experts in epithelial cell biology, immunology, environmental science, microbiology, and translational medicine, the meeting will address mechanistic insights into epithelial barrier biology and the impact of extreme environmental exposures. The goal is to foster interdisciplinary collaboration, inspire novel research strategies, and translate scientific advances into preventive and therapeutic strategies for the rising burden of allergic, autoimmune and chronic inflammatory diseases worldwide.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Warm regards,

Ismail Ogulur
Chair, EAACI Epithelial Cell Biology Working Group

Cezmi Akdis

Editor-in-Chief Allergy

Past-Chair EAACI Epithelial Cell Biology Working Group

Umit Murat Sahiner

Board Member, EAACI Pediatric Section

President, Turkish National Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology

So, the satire got the structure right. It predicted an EAACI-sponsored symposium in late 2026, built around the epithelial barrier theory, with Akdis at the centre and an environmental framing in the title. All of that arrived: Cappadocia, 1-3 October 2026, Cezmi Akdis chairing the planetary session, the theme announced as “Epithelial Barriers, Microbiome and Planetary Health”. Only the country was wrong.

The satire got the content wrong by being too specific. It invented sessions on microplastic pathobiology, quaternary ammonium toxicology, electromagnetic effects on tight junctions and a digital detox protocol. Absurd, but each named an exposure that could in principle be measured and refuted. The real programme names no exposure at all. Nine sessions pass without a single quantity, agent or threshold.

What the nine titles do contain is a small vocabulary recombined: epithelial, barrier, immune, microbiome, environmental, allergic, mechanisms, just with the nouns reordered. Nothing in the list would change meaning if the words were shuffled between titles, each speaker could speak with slides from another talk – known as powerpoint karaoke.

That is the point worth publishing. A satirist inventing a fake conference has to give each session distinguishing content, because otherwise the joke does not land. The real programme is under no such constraint. It reads more interchangeable than the parody, and the theory it is built on has now reached the stage where a symposium can be assembled around it without anyone having to say what would count as evidence against it.

Predatory science.