01/09/2025
Key points:
The Institute is excited to expand the scope of its immunology research and welcome Dr Dinis Calado as a senior group leader.
The Calado team investigates fundamental aspects of immunology, focusing on how B cells provide lasting protection following vaccination and infection. In parallel the group explores how B cell dysregulation drives blood cancers and impacts the progression of solid tumours. Alongside studies of human tissues, Dinis’s team has developed advanced mouse models that closely replicate both blood and solid cancers, enabling the study of early disease development, tumour-immune interactions, and the discovery of therapeutic vulnerabilities. By working at the interface of immunity, cancer, and ageing, the Calado Lab is positioned to uncover how ageing shapes immune cell longevity, surveillance, and cancer risk, with the ultimate aim of developing therapies tailored to a patient’s immunological age.
The team uses state-of-the-art approaches, including genetic models, single-cell and spatial multi-omics, CRISPR genome engineering, and advanced imaging to uncover mechanisms that drive antibody responses, fuel blood cancers, and shape the role of B cells in tumour growth and progression.
Dr Martin Turner, Head of the Institute’s Immunology programme, said: "I’m delighted to welcome Dinis to the Institute. His research will synergise with our immunology research and across the Institute’s other programmes, and enhance our contribution to understanding the role of the immune system in repair and resilience, which is central to maintaining lifelong health.”
Dr Dinis Calado said: “I am excited to join the Babraham Institute’s Immunology programme, where the cross-over of expertise provides an outstanding environment for discovery. The Institute’s world-class facilities and technical platforms align closely with our research into B cell biology and cancer, while enabling cross-cutting collaborations with colleagues in Signalling and Epigenetics programmes. I have already experienced the collegial spirit of the community and look forward to building partnerships that advance both fundamental immunology and translational impact.”
Dinis undertook his PhD in molecular immunology at the University of Lisbon, Portugal, followed by postdoctoral research at Harvard Medical School, USA and later at the Max Delbrück Center in Germany as a Special Fellow of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. In 2013 Dinis established his own research group at the Cancer Research UK’s London Research Institute, joining the Francis Crick Institute with its formation in 2015. Dinis was promoted to Senior Group Leader in 2020 and now heads the Immunity and Cancer Laboratory. From 2025, Dinis will hold joint appointments between the Babraham Institute and the Francis Crick Institute.
Dinis’s contributions to translational science have been recognised through honours including the AstraZeneca Haematology Scholar Award and the Sir David Cooksey Prize in Translation. He maintains active collaborations with pharmaceutical and biotech partners to translate fundamental discoveries into precision therapies.
Dinis serves on expert review panels, including the CRUK Discovery Research Committee, the MRC Infections and Immunity Board, the Blood Cancer UK Expert Panel, and the EU-Horizon canSERV Independent Review Board.
Press contact: Dr Louisa Wood, Head of Communications, louisa.wood@babraham.ac.uk
Image description: Dinis Calado, shown left, and two 3D confocal images of mouse bone marrow showing plasma cells (antibody producing cells; in red), endomucin⁺ vasculature (green), immunoglobulin (white), and cell nuclei stained with DAPI (blue). Credit: Abdouramane Camara, Immunity & Cancer Laboratory, The Francis Crick Institute.
Learn more about the Institute’s immunology research
As we age, our bodies become more prone to infection and disease, and vaccination becomes less effective. Dr Martin Turner, Head of the Immunology programme, talks about why a deeper understanding of the immune system is key to lifelong health.
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