Michele Ardolino

As a young student, I found myself amazed by the combination of elegance and efficiency displayed by the immune system. Once I completed my master in Biotechnology, I enthusiastically joined the Immunological Science program at the University of Rome as a Ph.D student. In the laboratory directed by Angela Santoni, I studied how two populations of immune cells, T cells and NK cells, interact with each other in the human system. After graduation, I decided to move to the US for my post-doctoral training, and in 2010 I joined the group of David Raulet at the University of California, Berkeley. In David’s lab, I have investigated the mechanisms that underlie the failure of the immune response to tumors. I received invaluable training in mouse and tumor immunology during my time in the Raulet lab and I became an expert in the immuno-oncology field. In 2016, I was recruited by a joint effort of the University of Ottawa and the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute to lead a group in cancer immunology. My laboratory is interested in understanding the complex interactions between immune cells and tumors to find new ways to harness the immune system against cancer.