Dr. Joan Sayós Ortega

Head of Group
Email:  joan.sayos@vhir.org
Phone: 934893753 / ext 3753

Research Group

Immune Regulation and Immunotherapy Group

Biosketch

After obtaining a degree in Biology from the University of Barcelona, in 1989 I began doctoral studies at the same university, obtaining a doctorate degree in Biology in 1995. The experimental work carried out under the supervision of doctors Rafael Franco and Carme LLuis were related to the role of extracellular adenosine in a model of kidney proximal tubule.

In 1995, I started a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Dr. Cox Terhorst at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, hospital affiliated to the Harvard Medical School. During a period of four years we worked in the molecular characterization of the transduction signaling pathways of different receptors (CD150, CD84, CD244, CD229) belonging to the immunoglobulins family. The most relevant results of this period were the cloning and identification of the SAP / SH2D1A molecule encoded by the gene responsible for lymphoproliferative syndrome X-linked (XLP) disease. (Sayós et al Nature 395:.. 462-469. (1998)). In 1999 I obtained a position as Instructor in Medicine at Harvard Medical School.

In 2000 I joined the Group of Immunology at the Department of Experimental Sciences and Health (DCEXS) at the University Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona with a post-doctoral fellowship from the Ministry of Science and Technology, and a year later I got a Ramon y Cajal contract that allowed me to establish my own research group. After finishing my contract Ramon y Cajal, in 2007 I got a contract Miguel Servet FIS and moved my research group at the Research Institute Vall d’Hebron (VHIR) in Barcelona. At present I am the PI of the Immune Regulation and Immunotherapy  Group at VHIR with a Senior Research position since 2012. Our group has conducted a research on the molecular and functional study of several families of immune inhibitory receptors (CD300, CD150, CD85 and Siglecs) and their possible role in various diseases, including cancer, neurodegenerative and demyelinating diseases, immunodeficiency’s, acute damage in the SN and asthma. We have recently launched a new line of work for the development of new immunotherapeutic targets in the fight against cancer.