Human T cells: differentiation, defense, and regulation

Prof. Federica Sallusto is the Group Leader of the Cellular Immunology Laboratory and the Director of the Center of Medical Immunology at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB) in Bellinzona. She holds a joint professorship at ETH Zurich and Università della Svizzera italiana (USI) in Lugano. In recognition of her scientific achievements, she received the Pharmacia Allergy Research Foundation Award (1999), the Behring Lecture Prize (2009), and the Science Award from the Foundation for the Study of Neurodegenerative Diseases (2010). She was elected a member of the German Academy of Science Leopoldina in 2009 and EMBO in 2011.She previously served as the President of the European Federation of Immunological Societies (EFIS).

Federica Sallusto is a leading expert in human cellular immunology. Her research focuses on dendritic cell and T cell trafficking, T cell differentiation, and immunological memory. She contributes identification of T cell subsets, including “central memory” and “effector memory” T cells, skin-homing Th22 cells, and two types of pathogen-specific Th17 cells with distinct functions.