Yaron ILAN, M.D.

Professor Yaron Ilan is a graduate of the Hebrew University - Hadassah Medical School, Jerusalem. Following his graduation in 1984, he worked at the Hadassah Medical Center and was appointed Chief Physician of the Liver and Gastroenterology Units there in 1995. In June of 2001 he was appointed Director of the Department of Medicine A.
From 1995-1997, Professor Ilan underwent postgraduate training as a Research Fellow attached to the Liver Research Center, at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York. During that time, he was also a Fellow at the Division of Liver Transplantation and Liver Unit at Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York. In 1998, he was appointed Associate Professor of Medicine at Hebrew University, Jerusalem.

Professor Ilan's main research interests include the following:

1. Immunemodulation via induction of oral tolerance in the presence of pre-existing immunity.
2. Oral immuneregulation for the treatment of chromic hepatitis B and C virus infections.
3. Modulation of the anti tumor immune response via oral immuneregulation.
4. The role of liver associated lymphocytes expressing NK1.1 epitopes in immunemodulation.
5. Gene therapy using recombinant adenovirus vectors.
6. Adoptive transfer of immunity towards viral antigens for suppression of viral associated tumors of the liver.

His patents include:
• Novel processes implementing selective immune downregulation (SIDR): Oral tolerance towards adenoviral vectors for long term gene expression using recombinant adenoviral vectors.
• Immuneregulation towards viral and tumor associated antigens.
• Modulation of liver associated NK 1.1+ T cells for immuneregulation of immune mediated disorders.