Rodrigo Ramos
Life Sciences
Few people can say that as children they dreamed of curing cancer. Rodrigo Ramos told his parents exactly that from the age of seven. A biologist from Universidade Estadual Paulista Júlio de Mesquita Filho, Rodrigo also holds a master’s degree in immunology from the University of São Paulo (USP). He also completed his doctorate in immunology at USP and has a second doctorate from the Université de Lyon 1 in France. He carried out his postdoctoral research at the Cancer Immunotherapy Center at the Curie Institute, Paris, and was also a researcher at the Centre de Recherche des Cordeliers/Sorbonne Université in France.
After a long period in Europe, Rodrigo returned to Brazil and now lives in São Paulo with his wife and four-year-old son, Thomas. His current project is an innovative investigation into the early diagnosis of cancer. To clear his head from data processing and articles, Rodrigo often buries his feet in the sand on the beach with friends or cheers at a Santos match. Passionate about Brazilian music, the biologist also dabbles in guitar and percussion.
Projects
One of the most challenging aspects of oncology is detecting tumors as early as possible. The earlier cancers are found, the earlier patients can be treated, and consequently, there is a greater chance of success and survival. The molecular events that occur during the transformation of normal tissues into cancerous tissues happen very slowly and can last for years or even decades before they become noticeable. Therefore, our idea was to propose that a “biological thermometer of the tissue” would be able to detect these changes from the earliest stage. Macrophages are cells of the immune system that are present in virtually all tissues, even before birth. They have distinct characteristics and functions, and some of these macrophages are called “resident” macrophages. The project therefore proposes to investigate the mechanisms by which resident macrophages detect tumor events in tissues, including how, when, and where these events occur.
