ITI Special Seminar Series: Luis Barreiro, PhD

Luis Barreiro, Ph.D., Professor, Section of Genetic Medicine, University of Chicago

Luis Barreiro received his undergraduate and Master’s degrees in Biotechnology at Lusófona University, Lisbon, Portugal. In 2008, he obtained his PhD in Human Population Genetics from the University of Paris VII, followed by a post-doc in the Department of Human Genetics at the University of Chicago. From 2011 to 2018 he was Professor at the Université de Montréal, and a researcher at the CHU Sainte-Justine. He is currently a Professor in the Genetics division, at the University of Chicago and the Chair of the Genetics, Genomics and Systems Biology graduate program. His work has been pioneer at using population genomic data to characterize the genetic basis of inter-individual differences in immune response to infectious agents. Highlights from his research include landmarks papers: (i) showing that genetic ancestry and natural selection drive population differences in immune responses in humans, (ii) mapping genetic variants that are associated with functional variation in immune response to infectious agents, and (iii) describing how epigenetic changes play a key role in the regulation of innate immune responses to infection.