Leonardo Ferreira

Leonardo Ferreira is an Assistant Professor of Microbiology and Immunology and, by courtesy, of Regenerative Medicine and Cell Biology at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) and the Hollings Cancer Center.145 He leads the Ferreira Lab, which focuses on designing and developing engineered immune cell therapies for autoimmune diseases, cancer, and aging.14

Key points about Leonardo Ferreira:

Education and Career Path

• Studied biochemistry at the University of Coimbra, Portugal2
• Completed his PhD at Harvard University, working on transcriptional regulation in human pregnancy2
• Did postdoctoral research at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF), focusing on next-generation regulatory T cell therapies23
• Joined MUSC as an Assistant Professor in July 20213

Research Focus

The Ferreira Lab's primary research areas include:

• Designing new Chimeric Antigen Receptors (CARs) for regulatory T cells (Tregs) as living therapeutics for type 1 diabetes2
• Optimizing genetic modification techniques for Tregs2
• Studying how specificity, affinity, and signaling modulate T cell function in immunity and tolerance1

Achievements and Recognition

• Discovered a new regulatory DNA element controlling a gene involved in immune tolerance during pregnancy4
• First to report the use of CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing in primary human T cells and hematopoietic stem cells4
• Part of a team that created hypoimmunogenic human pluripotent stem cells4
• Engineered immunosuppressive regulatory T cells (Tregs) with a new specificity using a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) specific for HLA-A24

Goals and Vision

Ferreira aims to control how the immune system recognizes self and non-self, with potential applications in reestablishing immune tolerance in autoimmunity and organ transplant rejection, as well as enhancing immunity in cancer and persistent infections.5 He envisions translating some of his lab's discoveries into patient treatments within this decade.4