Cristina Cunha

  • Fungal infection
  • microbiota
  • immunometabolism
  • antifungal immunity
  • synthetic biology models

Cristina Cunha graduated in Biology from the University of Minho in 2007 and received a PhD in Biology and Experimental Medicine in 2013 from the University of Perugia, Italy. Between 2014 and 2019, she developed postdoctoral studies on the genetic basis of susceptibility to fungal infection at the Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS) of the University of Minho. Since 2020, she is an Assistant Researcher at ICVS, where she is focusing her research on deciphering the contribution of the crosstalk between genetics, immunology, and metabolism to the susceptibility to infectious and inflammatory diseases. This multidisciplinary approach has allowed her to develop cutting-edge research and deliver important contributions towards the elucidation of the molecular and cellular events that regulate immunity and inflammation, contributing to the identification of novel prognostic, diagnostic, and therapeutic targets for personalized medical interventions.

Cristina Cunha

  • Fungal infection
  • microbiota
  • immunometabolism
  • antifungal immunity
  • synthetic biology models

Cristina Cunha graduated in Biology from the University of Minho in 2007 and received a PhD in Biology and Experimental Medicine in 2013 from the University of Perugia, Italy. Between 2014 and 2019, she developed postdoctoral studies on the genetic basis of susceptibility to fungal infection at the Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS) of the University of Minho. Since 2020, she is an Assistant Researcher at ICVS, where she is focusing her research on deciphering the contribution of the crosstalk between genetics, immunology, and metabolism to the susceptibility to infectious and inflammatory diseases. This multidisciplinary approach has allowed her to develop cutting-edge research and deliver important contributions towards the elucidation of the molecular and cellular events that regulate immunity and inflammation, contributing to the identification of novel prognostic, diagnostic, and therapeutic targets for personalized medical interventions.

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Projects

As Leader

Host-fungus interaction and disease pathogenesis

The reprogramming of cellular metabolism is a fundamental mechanism whereby immune cells respond to infection. The sensing of microbial ligands by myeloid cells promotes dynamic changes in host cell metabolism to deliver a rapid source of energy to support…

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Lung microbiome and mucosal immunity

Recent studies have successfully implicated several factors in the susceptibility to fungal infection, but have provided little insight into the nature of the underlying biological mechanisms. We propose a multiomics approach to link deep clinical phenotyping…

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Projects

As Member

Functional genomics of fungal disease

Genetic analysis of molecular and functional traits in immune cells, such as gene and protein expression and effector functions, offers a promising strategy for investigating phenotypic variation and dissecting the molecular mechanisms underlying propensity to infection.

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