Jose Villadangos

Professor Jose Villadangos is a National Health and Medical Research Council L3 Investigator Fellow and a Professor of the University of Melbourne with a dual appointment in the Department of Biochemistry and Pharmacology at the Bio21 Molecular Science and Biotechnology Institute and the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences. He heads the Villadangos laboratory in immunology and cell biology within the School of Biomedical Sciences and leads the Immunology theme at the Doherty Institute. Villadangos is also President of the Australian and New Zealand Society for Immunology. He earned his PhD from the Universidad Autonoma de Madrid in 1994 and conducted postdoctoral training at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard Medical School, and the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research. He established his independent research laboratory at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute in 2001 and moved it to the University of Melbourne in 2010.

The Villadangos laboratory studies the initial triggering of adaptive immune responses via antigen presentation from pathogens or tumors to T cells by dendritic cells, B cells, and macrophages. It investigates the development, regulation, and impairment of antigen-presenting cells induced by pathogens, inflammatory mediators, and tumors, while dissecting the biochemical machinery of antigen capture, processing, and presentation. This research informs T cell-dependent immunity and supports the design of improved vaccines and immunotherapies against infectious diseases and cancer. With more than 22,500 citations documented on Google Scholar, key publications include 'Cross-presentation, dendritic cell subsets, and the generation of immunity to cellular antigens' (Immunological Reviews, 2004), 'Intrinsic and cooperative antigen-presenting functions of dendritic-cell subsets in vivo' (Nature Reviews Immunology, 2007), 'Migratory dendritic cells transfer antigen to a lymph node-resident dendritic cell population for efficient CTL priming' (Immunity, 2006), 'Cathepsin L: critical role in Ii degradation and CD4 T cell selection in the thymus' (Science, 1998), and 'Essential role for cathepsin S in MHC class II-associated invariant chain processing and peptide loading' (Immunity, 1996). His work has significantly influenced understanding of dendritic cell functions and antigen presentation pathways.

Professional Email: j.villadangos@unimelb.edu.au