Maria Luisa Toribio - Biography#

Maria L. Toribio is PhD in Biology (Complutense University of Madrid, 1985) and full professor at the Centro de Biología Molecular Severo Ochoa (CBM, CSIC-UAM, Madrid) since 2003. She made her postdoctoral training at the CBM (1986-89), the Unité d’Inmunogénétique, Pasteur Institute, Paris, France (1989), and the Basel Institute for Immunology (Basel, Switzerland, 1990), and was also visiting professor at the Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Institute (Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston. MA, 2006-2007). She is an internationally recognized expert in the field of human T-cell development. Her research has contributed to our current understanding of T-cell generation in the human thymus and the associated dysregulated pathways leading to T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL). Her initial work revealed the lymphomyeloid potential of human thymus-seeding progenitors, leading to the identification of specific Notch ligand-specific microenvironments for T and non-T (dendritic) cell development. She pioneered the identification of human pre-T-cell developmental stages, and the characterization of human pre-TCR expression and function. More recently, her group established the first in vivo model oh human T-ALL generation, revealing the contribution of pre-TCR and IL-7R as key pathways downstream of Notch signaling involved in leukemogenesis, optimal as therapeutic targets in T-ALL. Lately, her research uncovered a novel role of Notch in regulating thymic epithelium homeostasis and thymus involution.

Dr. Toribio authors >135 publications in prestigious international journals (Nature, J.Exp Med, Blood, JCI), most as senior author (>5,500 citations, h-index 44). She has received continuous competitive funding from local, national and International funding agencies (the Spanish National Health Institute, the National Research Agency, the 7th European Union Framework Program on Health; the European Innovation Council Transition Program) and several private foundations (Glaxo Welcome SA, La Caixa, AECC Fund, Ramón Areces Fund, Unoentrecienmil Fund). She mentored 16 PhD students (3 ongoing) and 10 postdocs. She is editorial board member of several scientific journals (Front Immunol, J Immunopathol and Pharmacol, Eur J Inflam). She belongs to the SAB of the IMIM-Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute, and the Josep Carreras Leukaemia Research Institute. She also acted as member of several National and International Scientific Committees including, Spanish National Research Agency, National Health Institute, ERC Starting Grant, European Science Foundation, French National Research Agency, Swiss National Science Foundation, UK Research and Innovation, Portuguese Fundaçao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Romanian National Research Council, National Science Center, Poland, Children with Cancer UK, and European Hematology Association Fellowships & Grants Committee.