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Dinis Calado is a Senior Group Leader at the Francis Crick Institute, where he leads research on the immune system's role in cancer development. His work focuses on the immune cell types that work together to protect the body against infections from pathogens such as bacteria, viruses, and parasites. Calado investigates what happens when a specific type of immune cell, known as B cells, starts to grow uncontrollably, which can lead to blood cancers such as leukemia, lymphoma, and myeloma. He aims to understand the normal maturation process of B cells from precursor cells in the bone marrow and identify the genetic faults that cause them to turn into cancer cells. Through detailed analysis of B cell development and specialization, he seeks to identify small groups of cells that are particularly likely to become cancerous, ultimately using this knowledge to create new models for B cell development and find new ways to treat and prevent these deadly diseases.
The Francis Crick Institute does not have traditional 'departments' but operates via interdisciplinary research groups. Candidates apply to the 'Crick PhD Programme' and select specific research topics or labs (e.g., Cell Biology, Immunology, Cancer Research) that align with the listed department names. Students register with one of three partner universities: UCL, King's College London, or Imperial College London.