Biosketch

Rafael J. Argüello, a Molecular Immunologist at CNRS, Marseille, is the inventor of SCENITHTM, a method for metabolic profiling 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 Year2021. He co-founded GammaOmics, a startup developing personalized medicine tools, is active in the non-profit-Expedición Ciencia, and is a co-founding member of the European ImmunoMetabolism Network.

 

Tenured at CNRS (2019)

>2,4 Million euro Funding*

>30 Publications

2 International Awards*

>40 Invitations as Speaker*

11 Students Mentorship

2 Patents*

*since 2020.

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.

 

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.

Main research questions:

We want to understand 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?

Our goal extends to translating these insights into practical applications, particularly in combating Cancer and Sepsis, and improving outcomes in pediatric and adult patients. By developing innovative technologies (Spatial, Multi-Omics and single cell), we aim to predict long-term immune responses from early immunometabolic states, using human samples as our study’s cornerstone.

Adamik J et al., Nature Communications, 2023

Adamik J et al., Nature Communications, 2022*

Combes AJ et al., Cell, 2022                            

Argüello RJ et al., Cell Metabolism, 2020*

Argüello RJ et al., Journal of Cell Science, 2018*

Wulff TF and Argüello RJ et al., Biochemistry, 2017*

Dalet A and Argüello RJ et al., The EMBO Journal, 2017*

*Co-last or first author

 

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.

Tagliatti E et al., Immunity, 2024

Merech F et al., Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab, 2024

Verberk SGS et al., Cell reports methods, 2022

Reverendo M et al., PNAS, 2019

Chimge NO et al., Current Mol. Pharmacology, 2023

Swatler J et al., Haematologica, 2022

Bosc C et al., Nature Cancer, 2021

 

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.

Joulia E et al., J. Exp. Medicine, 2024

Jaeger M et al., PNAS, 2023

Kostel Ba S et al., Blood, 2023

Hong HS et al., Science Immunology, 2022

Corral D et al., Cell Reports, 2022

Lopes N et al., Nature Immunology, 2021

Positions and training

2013 Postdoctoral Fellow – Regulation of Translation in Dendritic cells – Pierre Lab – (CIML) France.

2018 Invited Research Specialist – Human Immuno Metabolism – Krummel Lab (UCSF) SF, USA.

2019 – Present Tenured Researcher CRCN, CNRS. (CIML) Marseille, France.

Contributions

  • Immunoregulatory mechanisms in Patients with Chagas disease.
  • Development of SunRiSE and SCENITHTM
  • Co-founder of GammaOmics
  • Co-founder of the Human Immuno Metabolism Network

Selected links

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