BIOGRAPHY

Hélène Decaluwe is Associate Professor in the Immunology and Rheumatology Division of the CHU Sainte-Justine (Department of Pediatrics, University of Montreal) and Clinician Scientist and Deputy Head of the Immune Diseases and Cancer Research Axis at the CHU Sainte-Justine Research Center. The primary focus of her research is to better understand the role of cytokines in the differentiation of T cells in health and disease, and to develop novel immunotherapeutic approaches that target cytokine-dependent pathways and inhibitory receptors expressed on T cells, to cure chronic viral infections and cancer. Supported by both national (Canadian Institutes of Health Research, National Institute of Health) and private (Canadian Cancer Society/Cole Foundation, Charles Bruneau Foundation, Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Canada) funding agencies, her laboratory has established a solid expertise in the field of T cell exhaustion, a differentiation pathway that limits optimal T effector cell functions and precludes memory T cell development. They are particularly involved in identifying the cytokine-dependent signaling pathways and transcription factors regulating T cell exhaustion during disease. They further aim to develop novel combined immunotherapeutic approaches that target inhibitory receptors and/or cytokine-dependent signaling pathways, to improve cure rates in cancer refractory patients and patients with primary immunodeficiencies. Finally, Hélène Decaluwe has developed a particular expertise in the immune reconstitution of severe combined immunodeficiency patients treated by stem cell transplantation (and enrolled in the Primary Immune Deficiency Treatment Consortium), with the goal to inform on the best therapeutic approaches to transplant these patients.