Carlos Rogério Figueiredo

==Carlos Rogerio Figueiredo==
Carlos Rogério Figueiredo is a Brazilian/Portuguese immunologist, cancer researcher and Adjunct Professor at the University of Turku, in Finland. Figueiredo's research focuses on cancer immunobiology, immunotherapy, cancer cell biology and cancer prognostication, with particular interests in melanomas, lung and breast cancers. As an Academy of Finland Research Fellow, Figueiredo established the Medical Immuno-Oncology Research Group (MIORG) at the Faculty of Medicine, as part of the Institute of Biomedicine in the University of Turku. MIORG is a multidisciplinary immuno-oncology research group that aims to advance immunotherapy development and cancer prognostication.
==Education==
Figueiredo completed his Ph.D. in Immunology and Microbiology under the guidance of Professor Luiz R. Travassos at the Federal University of São Paulo, Brazil. Professor Travassos was also a tenured Professor at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center|Memorial Sloan Kattering Cancer Center together with the his collaborator and friend, Professor Lloyd J. Old, considered the Father of Modern Tumor Immunology. Travassos introduced Figueiredo to immunochemistry and cancer immunobiology during his Ph.D. studies in Brazil, which shaped his future research and teaching. Figueiredo's research led to the discovery of new antitumor drugs, such as small peptides derived from immunoglobulins and monoclonal antibodies with antitumor functions against advanced metastatic tumors. During his postdoctoral studies at the University of Liverpool, Figueiredo furthered his understanding of the mechanisms behind antitumor immunotherapies he had developed and fostered collaboration in combinatorial drug development. In a subsequent postdoctoral period, Figueiredo gained advanced training in precision cancer pathology under the mentorship of Professor Sarah E. Coupland. His training focused on interpreting immune infiltrates in tumor biopsies from cancer patients, including ocular melanomas and tumors that develop metastases in the liver. While training in Liverpool, Figueiredo received funding from the North West Cancer Research to conduct reverse translational clinical research, primarily centered on applying single-cell mass cytometry and spatial NanoString GeoMX to immune profiling of metastatic ocular melanomas resistant to immune checkpoint therapies. In Finland, Figueiredo worked as a postdoc at the MediCity research laboratory at the University of Turku, and was later awarded a docentship in immunology by the same Institution.
==Research==
Figueiredo has been actively involved in research and collaboration, obtaining funding from various organizations both as a principal investigator (PI) and as a co-investigator (Co-I). Recent funding includes the Academy of Finland Fellowship (2020-2025) for prognostication and drug development related to immune checkpoint therapies, support from the Jane and Aatos Erkko Foundation for the discovery and characterization of biomarkers of resistance to immunotherapies, and resources from the Sigrid Juselius Foundation for the investigation of repurposed drugs that counteract the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment. In total, Figueiredo has received over €1.5 million as a principal investigator and more than €20 million as a co-investigator.
==Publications==
Figueiredo is an author of more than 50 articles published in international peer-reviewed scientific journals, with over 1500 citations and an early-career H-index of 23, according to Google Scholar. Highly cited papers include the discovery of factors contributing to immunotherapy resistance, such as the loss of BAP1 gene expression, which holds implications for therapy advancement, and the rational development of a therapeutic antitumor CDR-derived peptide which blocks an important mechanism of melanoma immune evasion. Lately, his group has made significant progress in discovering novel biomarkers related to metabolic alterations in metastatic ocular melanomas. They have also developed new prognostic signatures for these changes and identified potential combination therapies to counteract these issues, and in dissecting alternative mechanism of immune checkpoint therapy resistance, such as the epigenetic suppression of NKT cell generation.
Category:Brazilian people
Category:Federal University of São Paulo alumni
Category:Immunologists
Category:Cancer researchers
Category:Adjunct professor