Michelle Letarte was the chair of the IUIS Education Committee (2006-2017) and has been involved in supporting students from the developing world to attend Immunology courses. She served as Past-Chair of the Committee from 2018-2023. She was also the head of the Immunopaedia Steering Committee. Michelle is now stepping down to spend more time on creating art – michelleletarte.ca
Michelle Letarte has a PhD in Biochemistry and is an Emeritus Professor of Immunology at the University of Toronto, Canada. She spent most of her career working as a senior scientist at the Hospital for Sick Children, in Toronto. She characterized several leukocyte membrane glycoproteins and is best known for her work on endoglin (CD105). She discovered this major glycoprotein of the vascular endothelium while working on childhood acute lymphocytic leukemia. She determined that it was a co-receptor of the transforming growth factor beta superfamily and that it was mutated in Hereditary Hemorrhagic Telangiectasia type I (HHT1).
2017 Immunologist of the Month interview – Michelle Letarte Interview
The interview included in the video below is by Sarah Kandoussi – Watch the full video
Michelle’s professional journey and IUIS course involvement is summarised in a tribute video.
Michelle Letarte Tribute Video
Video by Gabriela Rocío Zamora Herrera – Immunopaedia Ambassador
