Our group is investigating cellular immunity against viral infections, in particular in hosts with compromised immunity, and to understand epigenetic mechanisms that regulate this cellular immunity. The cohorts analysed in our studies include people with early HIV infection, people with controlled and uncontrolled HIV infection, and non-HIV-infected individuals who have received solid organ transplants or who have been diagnosed with viral-driven cancers, such as EBV lymphoma, or HPV-driven cancers. We are exploring different avenues to identify immunological correlates of HIV control in natural infection, and have set out to identify markers associated with HIV-related neurofunctional defects. These studies also include detailed analysis of the T-cell receptor repertoire of specific T-cell responses to HIV, in order to determine the molecular ontogeny of those responses and understand the transcriptional programme of these cells, with a view to guiding vaccination strategies that could induce robust, long-lasting and effective antiviral immunity.
Finally, we also study possible factors governing HCV evolution in liver transplant patients and immune determinants of organ rejection in HIV-infected patients who have received a kidney transplant from a donor who is also HIV-infected.
Christian Brander graduated from the University of Bern in 1994 with a PhD in Immunology, having studied exogenous antigen re-presentation on HLA class and T-cell-mediated hyper-reactivity to penicillin. He spent the next 13 years at Harvard University, where he focused on...
Curriculum
Associate researcher
Alex Olvera van der Stoep
aolvera@irsicaixa.es
Post-doctoral researcher
Anuska Llano
allano@irsicaixa.es
Associate researcher
Beatriz Mothe
bmothe@irsicaixa.es
Principal Investigator
Christian Brander
cbrander@irsicaixa.es
Post-doctoral researcher
Marta Ruiz Riol
mruiz@irsicaixa.es
Clinical cohort coordinator
Pep Coll
pcoll@irsicaixa.es
Senior laboratory technician
Samandhy Cedeño Briceño
scedeno@irsicaixa.es
Post-doctoral researcher
Sandra Silva-Arrieta
ssilva@irsicaixa.es
Pre-doctoral researcher
Bruna Oriol
boriol@irsicaixa.es
Laboratory technician
Tuixent Escribà
tescriba@irsicaixa.es
Pre-doctoral researcher
Clara Duran Castells
cduran@irsicaixa.es
Pre-doctoral researcher
Luis Romero Martín
lromero@irsicaixa.es
Post-doctoral researcher
Cristina Peligero Cruz
cpeligero@irsicaixa.es
