Immunopaedia Ambassadors – South America
Our Ambassadors from across South America.
What is your name?
Alejandra Urioste
What is your current position?
Research Fellow
Which institute and country do you work in?
University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB), School of Medicine, Surgery Department
What is your home country?
Argentina
What are your research interests?
Immunology, Transplantation, Genetics
Tell us about yourself and your research interests:
I am a biochemist and pharmacist from the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina. In the future, I see myself as an established independent transplant immunology researcher. I would love to share my experience and learning more about transplant immunology. As a resident fellow at “Pedro de Elizalde” Children’s Hospital, I was the very first resident to take the position in a new residency training program in the hospital. I took my first steps in the Clinical Immunology field with my research on HIV vertical infection and the study of the development of the immune system in the context of a chronic infection, focused on immunosenescence. Moreover, I worked on other pathologies, including autoimmunity diseases, inborn errors of immunity, transplantation, and hematological malignancy. My Ph.D. project focused on the study of the dynamics of the HIV reservoir and the immune response after HCV clearance after direct acting antiviral agents treatment, in people living with HIV in the context of HCV coinfection. As a Research Fellow at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, I study the transcriptomics of the tissue resident macrophages in kidney transplant and the monocyte to macrophage transition.
What are your online profiles?
LinkedIn: Alejandra Urioste
X: @jandraleurioste
Research Gate: Alejandra-Urioste
Immunology Keywords:
Transplantation, Macrophages, T-cells
What is your name?
Valeria Sarapura Martinez
What is your current position?
PhD Student
Which institute and country do you work in?
Laboratorio de Inmunología Oncológica, Instituto de Medicina Experimental (IMEX)-Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET)- Academia Nacional de Medicina (ANM)
What is your home country?
Argentina
What are your research interests?
Oncohematolology and Immunotherapies
Tell us about yourself and your research interests:
I’m a PhD student at the Laboratory of Oncological Inmunology in the IMEX–CONICET–ANM in Buenos Aires, Argentina. At our lab, we study Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia, particularly, we are focused on the ability of activated T cells to induce resistance to venetoclax. We are searching for therapeutic strategies to overcome this phenomenon. In this sense, we are studying the role of sphingosine kinases in leukemic cells and in the tumor microenvironment. I’m interested in this pro-survival role of T cells in leukemia, but also in the possibility of potentiate their cytotoxic properties.
What are your online profiles?
LinkedIn – Valeria Sarapura Martinez
Immunology Keywords:
T cells, B cells, Inmunotherapies
What is your name?
Macarena Mamberto
What is your current position?
Assistant Researcher and Teaching assistant for Immunology
Which institute and country do you work in?
Experimental and Clinical Immunology Institute (IDICER), Argentina
What is your home country?
Argentina
What are your research interests?
Oncology and Immunotherapies
Tell us about yourself and your research interests:
I am a PhD student. I have a fellowship from CONICET and I started on April last year. I am studying the role of Vav2 protein in melanoma. Now, my research focused more on the characterization of the protein but I am more interested on the immunological role of the protein. I have done a basic course on immunology last year and this year (2021) I took part in the Immuno-Colombia. So, little by little, I am getting more knowledge about this wonderful field.
I like to study new things and to now the current knowledge about the different topics. I am a very active person and I have always an activity, new courses, reading about new topics, etc.
What are your online profiles?
LinkedIn – Macarena Manberto
Immunology Keywords:
T cells ,Immunotherapies, Cytokines
What is your name?
David Emmanuel Romanin
What is your current position?
Assistant Researcher and Teaching assistant for Immunology
Which institute and country do you work in?
Institute for Research in Immunology and Phisiopathology (IIFP) in the group of Dr. Martin Rumbo. The institute belongs to the Argentinean National Research Council (CONICET) and the National University of La Plata, La Plata, Argentina.
What is your home country?
Argentina
What are your research interests?
Innate immunity, intestinal microbiota, and immunomodulation strategies using probiotic microorganisms and derivatives
Tell us about yourself and your research interests:
I’ve started my PhD studying the immunomodulatory properties of microorganisms isolated from kefir, and found that the yeast has a strong anti-inflammatory effect on the innate immunity. We (my workgroup and I) followed this line of research trying to understand how this phenomenon works and also looking for a potential application of these microorganisms. Since exacerbated inflammation can be the cause of severe tissue damage in inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), we worked on murine models of IBD and found that the administration of the yeast can mitigate the inflammation and alleviate the histopahology. We are currently studying the mechanisms underlying this modulation including the direct interaction between the probiotic yeasts and the intestinal epithelium and also the influence of the changes in intestinal microbiota.
I’m also collaborating on other research lines, one focused on intestinal transplantation and the other on the biology of the yeasts and their technological applications..
What are your online profiles?
Researchgate – David Romanin
Google Scholar
Immunology Keywords:
Innate immunity, microbiota, immunomodulation
What is your name?
Christian David Barreto Vargas
What is your current position?
PhD Student-Immunology
Which institute and country do you work in?
CIBO- Mexican Institute for Social Security (IMSS) – University of Guadalajara (UDG). Guadalajara, Mexico.
What is your home country?
Colombia
What are your research interests?
Epigenetics, Cell signalling, Cancer
Tell us about yourself and your research interests:
I’m currently a PhD Student at University of Guadalajara in Mexico. I have been working with the WNT signalling pathway and its influence in cancer and the immune response. My research is about the transcriptional regulation of WNT ligands in T Lymphocytes and Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia cell lines. As I´m very interested in epigenetics, I use molecular techniques for the evaluation of DNA methylation, Histone methylation, cloning and analysis of transcriptional factors.
What are your online profiles?
Researchgate – Christian Barreto Vargas
Immunology Keywords:
Epigenetics, T Lymphocytes, WNT Signalling Pathway
What is your name?
Mariana Rivera Patron
What is your current position?
PhD Student
Which institute and country do you work in?
Departamento de Desarrollo Biotecnológico, Instituto de Higiene, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de la República (UdelaR). Montevideo, Uruguay.
What is your home country?
Uruguay
What are your research interests?
Adjuvants, innate immunity, infectious diseases
Tell us about yourself and your research interests:
I hold a degree in Biochemistry (Facultad de Ciencias, UdelaR, Uruguay) and I am currently enrolled in a Biological Sciences PhD program (PEDECIBA-UdelaR, Uruguay), studying the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying the adjuvant effect conferred by saponins extracted from the native tree Quillaja brasiliensis.
Since the early start of my career I have been delighted by the immune system. Over seven years, I’ve had the chance to develop professionally in a global animal health vaccine manufacturing company where I got involved in all the components of the complex vaccine-manufacturing process. This has been a great experience that has allowed me to explore a very interesting approach to the fascinating field of vaccines. As my vocational area is undoubtedly scientific research, and in particular vaccinology, I have been linked to the Departamento de Desarrollo Biotecnológico since 2011. In 2016 I had the opportunity to join fully as a postgraduate student, thus starting my education and training as a researcher. I am particularly focused on vaccines, adjuvants and the immune system, and therefore all my studies are concentrated in those areas.
What are your online profiles?
LinkedIn – Mariana Rivera
ResearchGate – Mariana Rivera
Immunology Keywords:
Vaccines, Adjuvants, Saponins
What is your name?
Amy Mónaco
What is your current position?
PhD, Research Associate
Which institute and country do you work in?
Department of Biotechnological Development, Instituto de Higiene, Facultad de Medicina
What is your home country?
Uruguay
What are your research interests?
Bacteria-based cancer immunotherapies, tumor immunology
Tell us about yourself and your research interests:
My field of research is on the use of attenuated bacteria as antitumoral agents, both alone or combined with other approaches as chemotherapy or checkpoint inhibitors, among others. I am particularly committed to the study of the cellular and molecular mechanisms that govern Salmonella anti-tumor potential in different cancer models. More recently, my work has diverged to basic understanding of the interaction from a bacterial point of view. I hope that my work studying both sides of the interaction can contribute to the understanding of tumor-bacteria interdependence so as to design better and cheaper strategies to address this worldwide affecting disease.
What are your online profiles?
ResearchGate – Amy Mónaco
Immunology Keywords: Inflammasome, Innate immunity, bacteria-based immunotherapies
What is your name?
Mario Alberto Ynga Durand
What is your current position?
Research Fellow
Which institute and country do you work in?
Mucosal Immunology Lab. Instituto Politecnico Nacional. Mexico
What is your home country?
Peru
What are your research interests?
Mucosal Immunology, Mucosal Immunization, Epithelial Immunity
Tell us about yourself and your research interests:
I am paediatrician and allergist/immunologist who is making the transition from clinical practice to translational research. After a productive stay at Rothenberg’s Lab at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, currently I am part of the European Union-sponsored Vaccinology Program based on Lyon, France. I am affiliated to the School of Medicine at Instituto Politecnico Nacional in Mexico City where we are establishing a collaboration network in order to further understand the impact of mucosal immunology in health and disease.
What are your online profiles?
LinkedIn – Mario Alberto Ynga Durand
Immunology Keywords: mucosal vaccines, mucosal adjuvants, epithelial immunity
What is your name?
Jose Mateus Triviño
What is your current position?
Ph.D. Student; M.Sc./Microbiology Department
Which institute and country do you work in?
Laboratorio de Parasitología Molecular and Laboratorio de Inmunobiología y Biología Celular, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogotá, Colombia
What is your home country?
Colombia
What are your research interests?
Immune response, Infectious diseases, Vaccine design
Tell us about yourself and your research interests:
I have a Bachelor’s degree of sciences and a Master’s degree in biological sciences from the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana (PUJ) at Bogota, Colombia, in which I studied the CD8+ T-cell subsets in patients with Chagas disease, a chronic parasitic infection caused by Trypanosoma cruzi infection. Currently, I am a PhD Student in Biological Sciences (Immunology) at PUJ, and my research is focus in human and mice T cells response in T. cruzi infection, as well as understand the immune mechanisms that are modified in chronic infections.
In addition, I work on other projects related to elucidate diagnostic or progression biomarkers, and potential alternative therapeutic against human pathogenic trypanosomatids (such as T. cruzi).
What are your online profiles?
ResearchGate – Jose Mateus
Immunology Keywords: T-cell subsets, multifunctionality, flow cytometry
What is your name?
Giselle G. Ingratta.
What is your current position?
Teacher at Immunology area.
Which institute and country do you work in?
Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias, Cátedra de Inmulogía.
What is your home country?
Argentina.
What are your research interests?
Animal and Human complex diseases, Immunomodulatory mechanisms, Paratuberculosis
Tell us about yourself and your research interests:
I am Giselle Gabriela Ingratta, I am 29 years old and I live in Buenos Aires, Argentina. I am a Vet and I am finishing a Biotechnology Masters at the University of Buenos Aires (UBA) where I also work as a teacher in the Immunology area. I have been researching on a disease called Paratuberculosis (ptb) that mainly affects livestock but it is not yet known whether it would be related to human Crohn disease. Ptb is a chronic mycobacterial disease characterized by a complex immune response.
Teaching is one of the most things I love to do and because of that one year ago I started a specialty in university teaching of biological sciences at the UBA too.
My research interests are those that involve the immune response against complex disease as ptb and I am also interested in progress on immunotherapy based on stem cells, cytokines, antibodies and their immune regulation, especially as a therapeutic tool.
What are your online profiles?
LinkedIn – Giselle Ingratta
Immunology Keywords: Antibacterial immune response, immunomodulation, Veterinary immunology