The laboratory has been investigating core mechanisms of immune regulation in health and disease, in mice and humans. This generalist approach identifies biological rules validated across diseases, be they infectious, inflammatory, autoimmune or cancer; across biological concepts, be they microbiome dynamics and their Darwinian evolution, or organism development; and across biological treatments, be they vaccines or antibody therapies.

Currently there are three projects running in the lab, each in close collaboration with other clinical and academic centres.

The project lead by Teresa Pais, explores how type I IFN induction upon innate immune receptor activation shapes human Cerebral Malaria outcome. The translation objective of this project is to develop novel therapeutic tools targeting the communication between innate cells and brain endothelial cells. Collaborations with Institute Hygiene and Medecine tropical (IHMT), funding from FCT and Oeiras Valley.

The project lead by Iris Caramalho, identifies genetic components, such as frequent and rare SNPs, which condition Type 1 Diabetes age of onset and severity. The translation objective of this project is to develop novel early predictive diagnostic tools. Fundings have been from FCT, ESAD, and Maratona da Saude. Collaborations with Hospital Dona Estefania and FCUL.

The project developed by Diana Povoa and M-L Bergman assesses the antibody response dynamics following vaccination against COVID19 at both large cohort and individual scales, in healthy and immunocompromised individuals. The applied objective of this project is to elaborate evidence based algorithms to guide infection prevention measures for immunocompromised individuals. Fundings have been from FCT, GILEAD, FCG, and collaborations are within CHLO, CHULC, ARS Vale Teijo, ARS Oeiras.

Iris Caramalho, Thiago Lopes-Carvalho, Dominique Ostler, Santiago Zelenay, Matthias Haury, Jocelyne Demengeot (2003); Regulatory T Cells Selectively Express Toll-like Receptors and Are Activated by Lipopolysaccharide.  J Exp Med ; 197 (4): 403–411. doi.org/10.1084/jem.20021633

Santiago Zelenay; Marie-Louise Bergman; Ricardo Sousa Paiva; Andreia C. Lino; Ana C. Martins; João H. Duarte; Maria F. Moraes-Fontes; Angelina M. Bilate; Juan J. Lafaille; Jocelyne Demengeot (2010) Intrathymic Differentiation of Adaptive Foxp3+ Regulatory T Cells upon Peripheral Proinflammatory Immunization J Immunol (2010) 185 (7): 3829–3833. doi.org/10.4049/jimmunol.1001281

R.S. Paiva, A.C. Lino, M. Bergman, Í. Caramalho, A.E. Sousa, S. Zelenay, J. Demengeot, (2013) Recent thymic emigrants are the preferential precursors of regulatory T cells differentiated in the periphery, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 110 (16) 6494-6499. doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1221955110

Marie-Louise Bergman, Thiago Lopes-Carvalho, Ana-Catarina Martins, Fabio A. Grieco, Décio L. Eizirik, Jocelyne Demengeot (2017); Tolerogenic insulin peptide therapy precipitates type 1 diabetes. J Exp Med ; 214 (7): 2153–2156. doi.org/10.1084/jem.20160471

João Faro-Viana, Marie-Louise Bergman, Lígia A. Gonçalves, Nádia Duarte, Teresa P. Coutinho, Patrícia C. Borges, Christian Diwo, Rute Castro, Paula Matoso, Vanessa Malheiro, Ana Brennand, Lindsay Kosack, Onome Akpogheneta, João M. Figueira, Conceição Cardoso, Ana M. Casaca, Paula M. Alves, Telmo Nunes, Carlos Penha-Gonçalves & Jocelyne Demengeot (2022); Population homogeneity for the antibody response to COVID-19 BNT162b2/Comirnaty vaccine is only reached after the second dose across all adult age ranges. Nat Commun 13, 140. doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-27761-z

A complete list of publications can be found here.

FCT

FCG

EU-FP7

EU-Marie Curie

Oeiras Valley

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4761-614X