Diving Into the Immune System Using Single-Cell Genomics

Host

Cristina João, MD, PhD, Myeloma Lymphoma Research Group

Venue

Seminar room

Abstract

The immune system consists of multiple cell lineages and subsets, whose tissue-specific programs, age-related dynamics, and regulatory mechanisms remain incompletely understood. First, leveraging a large multimodal single-cell immune dataset, we identified dominant site-specific influences on immune cell composition and age-associated effects that vary by tissue and lineage. Second, analysis of a new multimodal T cell dataset revealed both previously described gene programs and regulatory mechanisms, as well as novel ones in distinct CD4 and CD8 subpopulations. These studies highlight the power of bioinformatics to uncover hidden patterns in complex immune systems and to provide predictive and mechanistic understanding of immune function.

Bio

Ana Raquel Maceiras has a BSc in Biochemistry from the University of Porto (Portugal) and an MSc in Molecular Genetics from the University of Minho (Portugal). She then moved to Lisbon, where she pursued a PhD focused on the specificity and repertoire of Tfr cells under the supervision of Prof. Luis Graça at the Instituto de Medicina Molecular. For her first postdoctoral position, she joined Dr Margarida Saraiva’s lab at i3S - Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, where she investigated the immune response to Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection. During this postdoctoral position, she developed an interest in applying single-cell genomics and bioinformatics to study the immune system; thus, she decided to pursue a second MSc in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology at the University of Porto, which she completed in 2022. In the same year, she moved to the UK, where she joined Prof Sarah Teichmann's lab as a postdoctoral fellow to study the immune system ageing. She returned to Portugal in 2024, when she rejoined Prof. Luis Graça's lab as a postdoc to continue exploring the immune system using single-cell approaches.


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About CR Colloquia Series

Champalimaud Research (CR) Colloquia Series is a seminar programme organised by the Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown to promote the discussion about the most interesting and significant questions in neuroscience and physiology & cancer with appointed speakers by the CR Community.