Biosketch
Rafael J. Argüello, a Molecular Immunologist at CNRS, Marseille, is the inventor of SCENITHTM, a patented method for metabolic profiling using translation as readout and with single cell resolution. With a PhD in Human Immunology from Argentina (UBA) and postdoctoral work at CIML and UCSF, his research now focuses on metabolism and epigenetics in immune cells. His awards include the 2021 Diversity-Equity and Inclusion Paper of the Year. He co-founded GammaOmics, a startup developing personalized medicine tools, is active in the non-profit-Expedición Ciencia, and is the communications work group leader the European ImmunoMetabolism Network.
Research profile
I specialize in immune-regulation mechanisms and their impact on human health. My PhD journey in Argentina, constrained by technological limitations, ignited my interest in devising innovative scientific solutions. This led to two pivotal postdoctoral experiences in epi-transcriptomic regulation and human cancer immunometabolism. My efforts culminated in pioneering metabolic studies and patenting a novel single-cell metabolic analysis technique.
I initiated a collaborative project to unravel the intricate relationship between metabolic profiles and immune cell functions in health and disease. This work has introduced groundbreaking technologies and insights, particularly in understanding leukemia, dendritic cells (DC), macrophages, and T cells.
Main research questions:
- Focus on understanding the molecular links between ImmunoMetabolism and Trained immunity in Cancer and Sepsis.
- How do internal and external factors influence the metabolic shifts in myeloid cells?
- Is this metabolic transition evident in their precursors?
- Can we develop tools and translate our findings to improve human health?
Pioneering Technological Advancements in Protein Synthesis and Immunometabolism: Development of SCENITH™ for single-cell metabolism profiling and SunRiSE for ribosome elongation measurement. Established methods for tRNA modification quantification and a viral infection model for protein expression analysis. Recent focus on metabolic distinctions in dendritic cells, monocytes, and macrophages.
Comprehensive Profiling of Immunometabolic Regulation in Dendritic Cells and Macrophages: My work includes mapping single-cell metabolic states in dendritic cells, linking immune phenotypes in kidney cancer to patient outcomes, and exploring Polymerase III transcription in T cell priming.
Elucidation of T Cell and Lymphocyte Function and Immunometabolism. New optogenetic tools to study T cell activation, and the link between metabolism and functional profile.
Positions and training
2019 – Present: Tenured Researcher CRCN, CNRS. (CIML) Marseille, France.
2018: Invited Research Specialist – Human Immuno Metabolism – Krummel Lab (UCSF) SF, USA.
2013 – 2017: Postdoctoral Fellow – Regulation of Translation in Dendritic cells – Pierre Lab – (CIML) France.
Contributions
- Immunoregulatory mechanisms in patients with Chagas disease.
- Development of SunRiSE and SCENITHTM
- Co-founder of GammaOmics
- Communications Human Immuno Metabolism Network