PROFILE
The immune system is continually confronted with foreign invaders. Whether these invaders are bacteria, viruses or our own cells that no longer behave properly, the immune system is tasked with distinguishing between our healthy cells (self) and these invaders (non-self). The inability to distinguish between self and non-self can lead to tolerance, which is the lack of recognition of foreign invaders by the immune system, or autoimmunity, which is the recognition by the immune system of healthy cells as foreign, or to tolerance, which is the lack of recognition of foreign invaders by the immune system.
Our team is studying the immunological mechanisms that regulate the fine balance between immunity and tolerance. Our aim is to understand how the activation of dendritic cells (the main sentinels of the immune system) and regulatory T lymphocytes (the main regulator/suppressors of the immune response) can lead to protective immunity or to different pathologies such as autoimmune diseases and cancer. We hope to translate the mechanisms discovered in mouse models to improve human health. Our research covers several major areas of immunology, as organ transplantation, autoimmunity, immunosurveillance and cancer and immunity and tolerance in the gut.
LAB MEMBERS
Research Head: Mario Rosemblatt
Doctoral Students: Juan Saavedra • Elizabeth Rivas • Violeta Kallens • Felipe Flores
Undergraduate Students: Pilar Hörmann • Solange Gouet • Daphne Moreno
Postdoctoral Fellows: Sarah Nuñez
Master Students: Pedro Briceño • Brian Parra • Nicolás Valdivieso • Justin Castañeda
Research Assistants: Leonardo Vargas • María Valeska Simon
FORMER LAB MEMBERS
Ana María Lennon (1992), PI at Institut Curie, France
Alejandra Loyola (1996). Group Leader at the Fundación Ciencia & Vida, Santiago, Chile
Gisella Puga, (1998) Lab Head, University Hospitals Geneva
Claudio Cortés, (1998), Associate Professor, Oakland University
Rodrigo Naves, (1999), PI at Universidad de Chile
Pablo Vargas (2003), PI at Institut Curie, France
Rodrigo Mora (2005), Head of Immunology Platform, Moderna
Fabiola Osorio, (2006), PI at Universidad de Chile
Fernando Sepúlveda, (2006), PI -Necker-Enfants Malades Hospital, France
Raúl Elgueta (2007), PI Centauri Therapeutics, UK
Lilian Reyes (2007), Director School of Biochemistry USS
Paula Michea, (2007), Aix-Marseille Université, France
Gonzalo Ureta , (2007) PI; Merken Biotech, Chile
Jennifer Alfaro (2008), PI Merken Biotech, Chile
Karina Pino-Lagos, (2010), PI at Universidad de los Andes
Carolina Moore, (2010), Research Associate, Cincinnati Children’s Medical Hospital
Paulina Ruiz, (2010), Assistant Professor, Universidad de Chile
Karla Alvarez, (2011), Universidade de Sao Paulo, Brazil
Jaime de Calisto, (2011), Universidad Mayor
Andrés Ramírez, (2011), Regional specialist, Bio-Rad Laboratories
Paz Reyes (2011), Field Applications Specialist Becton Dickinson , Chile
Nicole Halcartegaray (2012) Scientific Advisor Fundación Daya, Chile
Alejandra Gleisner (2012), Research assistant at Universidad de Chile
Paula Maldonado, (2013), Postdoctoral Fellow at Ragon Institute of MGH-MIT- Harvard
Valeria Manríquez,( 2014), Postdoc at Institut Curie, France
Constanza Miller, (2014), IP Consultant, ClarkeModet
Pablo Cifuentes (2015), Chief Scouting Officer – Phage Tecnologies, Chile
María José Morales, (2015), Patentes, Consultant, JarryIP Lawyers
COLLABORATIONS
National Collaborations:
• Dr. María Rosa Bono. Faculty of Sciences Universidad de Chile
• Dr. Daniela Sauma. Faculty of Sciences Universidad de Chile
International Collaboration:
• Dr. Francisco J. Quintana (Ann Romney Center for Neurologic Diseases, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School)
• Dr. Caglar Cekic (Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Bilkent University)
• Dr. Ciprian Tomuleasa (Center for Functional Genomics and Translational Medicine, Iuliu Hatieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Cluj Napoca, Romania)
• Dr. Andreas Lundqvist (Karolinska Institutet, Department of Oncology-Pathology)
• Dr. Christian Krebs, UKE Research Hamburg