Jose-Ignacio Rodriguez-Barbosa, PhD

Associate Professor of Immunology at University of Leon

Speaker

José Ignacio Rodríguez-Barbosa, DVM, PhD. The applicant's academic and research tra-jectory reflects a strong commitment to advancing the field of immunology, particularly in transplantation biology and immunotherapy of cancer. His career began with pre-doctoral training at the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of León, where he received a Predoctoral Scholarship for the Training of University Teachers (FPU pro-gram, Ministry of Education). During this period, he enriched his experience through short-term internships at prestigious institutions, such as the University of Washington (Pullman, WSU) and Cornell University (Ithaca, New York), totaling a year of interna-tional exposure.Antibody Engineering and Therapeutics, Basel, June 10-12, 20252In 1997, he embarked on postdoctoral training at the Pasteur Institute and the Institute of Cellular and Molecular Embryology in Paris, France, working under the supervision of Dr. A. Coutinho and Dr. Nicole Le Douarin. This was followed by another postdoctoral opportunity at the Massachusetts General Hospital (Harvard Medical School, Boston), where he worked from 1998 to 2000 under the mentorship of Dr. Megan Sykes, a pioneer in transplant immunology, who has contributed to significant advancements in the induc-tion of donor-specific transplantation tolerance and mixed chimerism strategies, which are now becoming clinically relevant.In 2001, he transitioned to a research fellowship at Arrixaca University Hospital (Depart-ment of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, University of Murcia), supported by the Health Research Fund (FIS, Ministry of Health). At this institution, he played a key role in es-tablishing the Research Unit in Transplantation and led his own research group focused on transplantation immunobiology, with an emphasis on peripheral tolerance induction. His research collaborations included a fruitful research internship at the Institute of Im-munology at Hannover Medical School, Germany, where he worked closely with leading researchers in the field of allogeneic intestinal transplantation and dendritic cell biology.Between 2006 and 2011, he secured a Ramón and Cajal contract at the University of León and, later, a Tenure Track position as Lecturer in Immunology, supported by the I3 Sta-bilization Program (Ministry of Education). In 2017, he advanced to the position of As-sociate Professor in Immunology, where he assumed a leadership role in both academic and research activities. He has been the head of the Immunobiology Research Unit since 2011, focusing on the role of the HVEM/LIGHT/BTLA/CD160 interacting pathway in transplantation and cancer immunotherapy.In recognition of his excellence in research, his group was accredited as a Consolidated Unit of Excellence by the Regional Government of Castilla y León in 2015. This accred-itation, under reference # UIC-012, has been active to this day, underscoring the group’s continued contribution to the field.