Immune systems exist in virtually all organisms but vary dramatically in complexity, ranging from the extreme simplicity of restriction enzymes of bacteria to the sophistication, efficiency and specificity of human immune responses. The Cell Biology of the Immune System Unit makes use of cellular and molecular biology, bioengineering, genetic, and systems biology tools to understand phagocytosis as a central process in innate immunity.

Luís Ferreira Moita
MD (1997) at University of Lisbon
PhD (2003) in Cell and Molecular Biology at EMBL
Postdoctoral research at Harvard Medical School and MIT
Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Lisbon
Cell and Development Biology Program Coordinator of IMM
Scientific Advisor to Laboratory Management

2009/11 - Immunological basis for the association of hypersomnic sleep disorders and cardiovascular disease, FCT (PIC/IC/82991/2007)

 

2007/10 - Genetic dissection of innate immune processes using RNA interference, FCT (PTDC/SAU-MII/78333/2006)

 

2007/10 - Synthetic pathogens for integrated biophysical and genetic dissection of antigen presentation, FCT (PTDC/SAU-MII/69280/2006)

 

2006/09 - Synthetic pathogens for the integrated biophysical and genetic dissection of antigen presentation. Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP - RGY0058/2006-C)

 

2006/09 - Technology Transfer From American Institutions to the Institute of Molecular Medicine for the Improvement of Competitiveness and Scientific Excellence in Biomedicine in the Areas of Cancer, Infectious and Immunological Research. FLAD – Fundação Luso-Americana para o Desenvolvimento

Sebastian Amigorena (Institute Curie, Paris, France)

Caetano Reis e Sousa (Cancer Research UK London Research Institute, London, UK)

Nir Hacohen (Harvard Medical School / Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Boston, USA)
 
Darrell Irvine (Dept. of Materials Science & Engineering and the Biological Engineering Division, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, USA)

RNAi screen for kinases and phosphatases that play a role in antigen presentation by dendritic cells.
Moita CF, Chora A, Hacohen N, Moita LF.
Eur J Immunol. 2012 May 14. doi: 10.1002/eji.201142167. [Epub ahead of print]
PMID: 22585713  [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

DNGR-1 is a specific and universal marker of mouse and human Batf3-dependent dendritic cells in lymphoid and non-lymphoid tissues.
Poulin LF, Reyal Y, Uronen-Hansson H, Schraml B, Sancho D, Murphy KM, Håkansson UK, Moita LF, Agace WW, Bonnet D, Reis E Sousa C.
Blood. 2012 Apr 3. [Epub ahead of print]
PMID: 22442345 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Effective treatment of rat adjuvant-induced arthritis by celastrol.
Cascão R, Vidal B, Raquel H, Neves-Costa A, Figueiredo N, Gupta V, Fonseca JE, Moita LF.
Autoimmun Rev. 2012 Mar 3. [Epub ahead of print]
PMID: 22415021 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Caspase-1 is active since the early phase of rheumatoid arthritis.
Cascão R, Polido-Pereira J, Canhão H, Rodrigues AM, Navalho M, Raquel H, Neves-Costa A, Mourão AF, Resende C, da Silva JA, Fonseca JE, Moita LF.
Clin Exp Rheumatol. 2012 Jan-Feb;30(1):144. Epub 2012 Mar 6. No abstract available.
PMID: 22272579 [PubMed - in process]

Highly dynamic host actin reorganization around developing Plasmodium inside hepatocytes.
Gomes-Santos CS, Itoe MA, Afonso C, Henriques R, Gardner R, Sepúlveda N, Simões PD, Raquel H, Almeida AP, Moita LF, Frischknecht F, Mota MM.
PLoS One. 2012;7(1):e29408. Epub 2012 Jan 6.
PMID: 22238609 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Sec22b regulates phagosomal maturation and antigen crosspresentation by dendritic cells.
Cebrian I, Visentin G, Blanchard N, Jouve M, Bobard A, Moita C, Enninga J, Moita LF, Amigorena S, Savina A.
Cell. 2011 Dec 9;147(6):1355-68.
PMID: 22153078 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Small molecule-mediated activation of the integrin CD11b/CD18 reduces inflammatory disease.
Maiguel D, Faridi MH, Wei C, Kuwano Y, Balla KM, Hernandez D, Barth CJ, Lugo G, Donnelly M, Nayer A, Moita LF, Schürer S, Traver D, Ruiz P, Vazquez-Padron RI, Ley K, Reiser J, Gupta V.
Sci Signal. 2011 Sep 6;4(189):ra57.
PMID: 21900205 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

An shRNA-based screen of splicing regulators identifies SFRS3 as a negative regulator of IL-1β secretion.
Moura-Alves P, Neves-Costa A, Raquel H, Pacheco TR, D'Almeida B, Rodrigues R, Cadima-Couto I, Chora Â, Oliveira M, Gama-Carvalho M, Hacohen N, Moita LF.
PLoS One. 2011;6(5):e19829. Epub 2011 May 17.
PMID: 21611201 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Novel HIV-1 knockdown targets identified by an enriched kinases/phosphatases shRNA library using a long-term iterative screen in Jurkat T-cells.
Rato S, Maia S, Brito PM, Resende L, Pereira CF, Moita C, Freitas RP, Moniz-Pereira J, Hacohen N, Moita LF, Goncalves J.
PLoS One. 2010 Feb 17;5(2):e9276.
PMID: 20174665 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Mycobacterium tuberculosis protein ESAT-6 is a potent activator of the NLRP3/ASC inflammasome.
Mishra BB, Moura-Alves P, Sonawane A, Hacohen N, Griffiths G, Moita LF, Anes E.
Cell Microbiol. 2010 Aug;12(8):1046-63. Epub 2010 Feb 9.
PMID: 20148899 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

 

The MHC class Ib protein ULBP1 is a nonredundant determinant of leukemia/lymphoma susceptibility to gammadelta T-cell cytotoxicity.
Lança T, Correia DV, Moita CF, Raquel H, Neves-Costa A, Ferreira C, Ramalho JS, Barata JT, Moita LF, Gomes AQ, Silva-Santos B.
Blood. 2010 Mar 25;115(12):2407-11. Epub 2010 Jan 25.
PMID: 20101024 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Rab27a and Rab27b control different steps of the exosome secretion pathway.
Ostrowski M, Carmo NB, Krumeich S, Fanget I, Raposo G, Savina A, Moita CF, Schauer K, Hume AN, Freitas RP, Goud B, Benaroch P, Hacohen N, Fukuda M, Desnos C, Seabra MC, Darchen F, Amigorena S, Moita LF, Thery C.
Nat Cell Biol. 2010 Jan;12(1):19-30; sup pp 1-13. Epub 2009 Dec 6.
PMID: 19966785 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Dectin-2 is a Syk-coupled pattern recognition receptor crucial for Th17 responses to fungal infection.
Robinson MJ, Osorio F, Rosas M, Freitas RP, Schweighoffer E, Gross O, Verbeek JS, Ruland J, Tybulewicz V, Brown GD, Moita LF, Taylor PR, Reis e Sousa C.
J Exp Med. 2009 Aug 31;206(9):2037-51. Epub 2009 Aug 24.
PMID: 19703985 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

The small GTPase Rac2 controls phagosomal alkalinization and antigen crosspresentation selectively in CD8(+) dendritic cells.
Savina A, Peres A, Cebrian I, Carmo N, Moita C, Hacohen N, Moita LF, Amigorena S.
Immunity. 2009 Apr 17;30(4):544-55. Epub 2009 Mar 26.
PMID: 19328020 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Regulation of CD45 alternative splicing by heterogeneous ribonucleoprotein, hnRNPLL.
Oberdoerffer S, Moita LF, Neems D, Freitas RP, Hacohen N, Rao A.
Science. 2008 Aug 1;321(5889):686-91. Epub 2008 Jul 10.
PMID: 18669861 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Integrins of Anopheles gambiae and a putative role of a new beta integrin, BINT2, in phagocytosis of E. coli.
Moita LF, Vriend G, Mahairaki V, Louis C, Kafatos FC.
Insect Biochem Mol Biol. 2006 Apr;36(4):282-90. Epub 2006 Jan 19.
PMID: 16551542 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

In vivo identification of novel regulators and conserved pathways of phagocytosis in A. gambiae.
Moita LF, Wang-Sattler R, Michel K, Zimmermann T, Blandin S, Levashina EA, Kafatos FC.
Immunity. 2005 Jul;23(1):65-73.
PMID: 16039580 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Conserved role of a complement-like protein in phagocytosis revealed by dsRNA knockout in cultured cells of the mosquito, Anopheles gambiae.
Levashina EA, Moita LF, Blandin S, Vriend G, Lagueux M, Kafatos FC.
Cell. 2001 Mar 9;104(5):709-18.
PMID: 11257225 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]