Professor Carola Vinuesa

Professor Vinuesa is clinically-trained and Head of the Pathogens and Immunity Department at the John Curtin School of Medical Research (The Australian National University). She obtained a medical degree at the University Autonoma of Madrid and undertook specialist clinical training in the UK. In 2000 she was awarded a PhD by the University of Birmingham (UK). She has ~ 80 publications cited ~4,400 times. Her work has led to very influential findings including the discovery of Roquin and its paralog Roquin-2, genes important for immune regulation and tolerance, and the importance of posttranscriptional control of T cell and macrophage gene expression to prevent autoimmunity (Nature 2005; Nature 2007; J. Exp. Med 2009; Nat Rev Immunol 2005). Her group identified T follicular helper (Tfh) cells as an independent T cell subset (Immunity 2009) and discovered a causal link between Tfh cell accumulation in autoimmune diseases (J. Exp. Med 2009; Diabetes 2011). This was followed up by the discovery of specialized T follicular regulatory (Tfr) cells (Nature Medicine 2011). Over the last few years she has worked closely with Professor Cook establishing the APOSLE cohort of lupus patients, carrying out the initial proof-of-principle exome sequencing experiments on this cohort and establishing the technological platform that forms the basis of the CPI. Her achievements have been recognized by numerous awards including the 2008 Science Minister Prize, the 2008 Biogen-Idec Prize, the 2009 Gottschalk Medal of the Australian Academy of Science, the 2012 Inaugural Elizabeth Blackburn NHMRC Fellowship and the 2015 Ramaciotti Medal for Excellence in Biomedical Research. She also counts with over 100 invitations to present her work including plenaries at Keystone symposia, Gordon conferences and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Symposia, and several keynote speeches.