Roser Vento-Tormo, Ph.D.
Wellcome Sanger Institute | Research Group Leader, VenTo Lab
Finalist Essay: Decoding Foreign Antigen Tolerance
Abstract:
Dr. Vento-Tormo studies how the human immune system develops and acquires its function, and how these processes are influenced by the surrounding cellular microenvironment.
With genomics and imaging tools, her lab reconstructs physiological tolerogenic milieus, such as the placenta and the testis, and generates “cell atlases” of these organs.
By developing and using bioinformatics and machine learning tools to interrogate these tissue maps, Dr. Vento-Tormo discovered novel cellular states and regulatory programs driving immune tolerance.
With this information, she precisely engineers stem cells into immune cell subtypes that can overcome the immunoregulatory obstacles, such as those found in the tumor microenvironment.
About Roser Vento-Tormo:
Roser Vento-Tormo received a BSc from the Polytechnic University of Valencia and a Ph.D. from the University of Barcelona.
After completing her postdoctoral fellowship at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, Vento-Tormo started her lab in the Cellular Genetics program at the Sanger in 2019.
Her research focuses on understanding how cell-cell communication and the tissue microenvironment regulate cell identity and function in the context of immunity and development.