Brief CV:
I am a Molecular Biologist with an MSc in Molecular Genetics and a PhD in Medical Studies. After my PhD, I worked at the Wellcome Sanger Institute as a Senior Research Assistant, specializing on the reprogramming of induced pluripotent stem cells and their differentiation into immune cells. Then I moved on as a postdoctoral fellow to the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, where I worked on the initiation of anti-cancer immune responses by dendritic cells. Since February 2024, I work at the Galician Centre for Manufacture of Advanced Therapies, where I lead the Quality Assurance and R&D departments.
From genome wide screening to protein-ligand modelling: uncovering targets for cancer cell adjuvanticity in a co-culture system
Abstract:
Cancer cells are often not adjuvant, leading to dendritic cell dysfunction and suboptimal antigen cross-presentation. Here, we present a genome-wide CRISPR/Cas9 screen in a dendritic cell – cancer cell co-culture model. We detected tens of genes that upon knockout in cancer cells induced dendritic cell activation. Transcriptomics and target-ligand expression analysis led us to identify several proteins upregulated in the knockouts with receptors expressed in dendritic cells. Overexpression of a membrane protein was sufficient to induce dendritic cell activation and antigen cross-presentation in vitro. Furthermore, vaccination studies showed a positive effect of the protein in murine models.
