on November 15, 2012
Since the 1st of November 2012, the Institute for Research in Biomedicine is hosting a new research group, the “Infection and Immunity” laboratory, which will be directed by Dr. Santiago Fernández González.
Dr. Fernández González holds two PhD degrees, one in immunology from the University of Copenhagen (Denmark) and one in microbiology from the University of Santiago de Compostela (Spain). He also spent several years at the Harvard Medical School in Boston (USA) as a postdoctoral fellow.
During his training, Dr. Fernández González’s research focused on antigen trafficking, memory B cells, and the regulation of the immune system. His work at Harvard was focused on the study of the antigen trafficking to the lymph node follicles, and on the characterization of the structure of a system of conduits involved in the delivery of small antigens and chemokines to B cells and follicular dendritic cells. In parallel, he also studied the transport mechanism of an influenza vaccine in the lymph nodes. His findings, published in several international journals of high impact factors, are important steps forward for the generation of durable humoral immunity to viral pathogens through vaccination.
He now joined the IRB as a group leader of the “Infection and Immunity” lab to study pathogen-host interaction trying to understand the mechanisms, which govern the innate and adaptive immune responses to respiratory pathogens, and the mechanisms by which viruses and bacteria fight the host immune system. These research projects will be addressed by using state-of-the-art imaging techniques such as 2-photon intravital microscopy and confocal microscopy.
Dr. Fernández González has already receive several awards. He was granted with two EU Marie Curie Fellowships: a Training Site Fellowship in 2004 for his studies in Denmark and an International Outgoing Fellowship in 2008 for a project shared between the Harvard Medical School (Boston) and the National Center for Biotechnology (Madrid). In December 2010, he was awarded with the Best Career Development Prize from the Spanish Foundation Pedro Barrié de la Maza.
The IRB welcomes Dr. Fernández González and wishes him a fruitful time at our Institute.
