معرفی
Ana Cumano is a Professor at the Pasteur Institute and Research Director of Exceptional Class at INSERM, leading the Lymphopoiesis Unit with over four decades of groundbreaking research in immunology and hematopoiesis. She received her Doctoral degree in Medicine from the New University of Lisbon in 1980 and completed postdoctoral training at the Genetics Institute in Cologne and the Ontario Cancer Institute in Toronto before joining the Pasteur Institute in 1992.
Her research focuses on lymphocyte development, particularly T cell development in the thymus, with significant contributions to understanding the waves of embryonic, fetal, and postnatal multi-lymphoid progenitors. Dr. Cumano's laboratory has pioneered the use of spectral cytometry for deep immunophenotyping and revealed fundamental insights into how bone marrow monocytes sustain NK cell development during liver inflammation through IL-15 trans-presentation and osteopontin secretion.
Her recent publications demonstrate a consistent trajectory of innovative research, with 2025 work on spatiotemporal dynamics of fetal liver hematopoietic niches, 2024 studies on NK cell development during non-alcoholic steatohepatitis and high-dimensional spectral cytometry, and 2023 publications mapping human lymphopoiesis revealing differential regulation of B and T/NK/ILC lineages. Her research has established that lymphoid specification follows independent direct or stepwise hierarchical routes converging toward CD117lo multi-lymphoid progenitors.
- EMBO Member (2000-2014)
- National ARC Commission for Immunology, Microbiology, and Hematopoiesis (2009-2011, Vice-president 2012-2014)
- Scientific Council of the Pasteur Institute (2009-2013)
- COMESP Pasteur Institute member (2014-present)
- HERM Advisory Board, Stockholm (2014-present)
As an educator, Dr. Cumano co-directs the Advanced Immunology course at the Pasteur Institute and has mentored numerous students and postdoctoral fellows. Her laboratory continues to investigate the role of lncRNA H19 in thymopoiesis and the developmental cartography of human lymphopoiesis, with implications for understanding immune disorders, blood cancers, and immunodeficiency conditions.
