Dr. Diego Catalán
Young Investigator
Universidad de Chile
Dr. Diego Catalán is a young scientist who carried out his undergraduate Medicine studies at the University of Chile. In 2010 he obtained his Ph.D. at the same institution. He has received postgraduate training at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona on 2012-2013. Recently, Dr. Catalán got a position as Assistant Professor in the Disciplinary Program of Immunology, at the Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Chile. His doctoral thesis was performed at Dr. Juan Carlos Aguillón’s Laboratory, focused in the characterization of new self-antigens involved in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis and in the contribution of B lymphocytes and autoantibodies to the development of this disease. Currently, as the Head of the Immune Regulation Laboratory and part of the Immune Regulation and Tolerance Research Group (IRT Group), he is participating and coordinating with a group of rheumatologists, several research projects intended to identify biomarkers that help to predict the response of rheumatoid arthritis patients to biological therapies. Also, he is heading a new research project, in collaboration with Dr. Dolores Jaraquemada and Dr. Iñaki Álvarez from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, in the area of identification of immunodominant epitopes that are responsible for the autoimmune response in rheumatoid arthritis, with the purpose to apply this knowledge to the design of new therapeutic strategies based on the restoration of tolerance. Finally, he is studying the biology of human regulatory B cells, evaluating which are the receptors involved on their activation and inhibition, as well as the signaling pathways and transcription factors that control their functions, both in health and in autoimmune or inflammatory conditions. His work has been published in important journals in the area, and he is currently leading two research projects funded by FONDECYT, Universidad de Chile and Millennium Institute on Immunology and Immunotherapy.
Phone: +56 2 978 6882
E-Mail: dfcatalan@med.uchile.cl
