Dr Munoz, is a Fundamental Cancer Researcher and Immunologist in Paul Beavis’ laboratory at Peter MacCallum since 2021.

She studied Biology at the Sorbonne University and subsequently trained in immunology by following the Pasteur’s Institute courses (Paris). She completed her PhD in the team of Dr De Saint-Basile and Pr Fisher (Imagine Institute - Paris) where she explored the role of the Kinesin-1 in the regulated secretion of immune cells. She finally discovered that Kinesin-1 is directly involved in the process of mast cell degranulation, paving the way toward new therapeutic solutions for allergy treatment (PCT/IB2016/000617).

Then, she decided to join Emmanuel Donnadieu’s laboratory at the Cochin Institute (Paris) to focus her work on epigenetic and cancer research. She studied the role of an epigenetic factor, named CXXC5, using murine models and discovered that the hematopoietic and immune system of these animals was characterised by a premature ageing. Then she identified the cause of this accelerated ageing, which was due to an overproduction of G-CSF by stromal cells present in the bone marrow microenvironment. This discovery, that could help the elderly to better fight age-related diseases (viral infection or cancer), led to a patent (EP23305142.5) and various publications.

Finally, she joined Paul Beavis’ lab, focussing her research on the development of the next generation of CAR-T cell using CRISPR/Cas9 HDR technology. Her current interest focuses on the identification of genes directly involved in the process of CAR-T cells exhaustion, known as a major barrier to CAR-T cell therapy success.