Alpha-gal is familiar to many scientists because it is responsible for an enduring disappointment: Its ability to trigger intense immune reactions is the reason that organs taken from animals have never successfully been transplanted into people. The puzzle was why the drug recipients were reacting to it. A team of allergy specialists led by Dr. Thomas Platts-Mills at the University of Virginia scrutinized the patients and their families for anything that could explain the problem. The reactions appeared regional – patients in Arkansas and North Carolina and Tennessee experienced the hypersens...