Teresa Rodriguez-Calvo

Lead scientist of research area: Type 1 diabetes pathology, Institute of Diabetes Research, Helmholtz Munich, German Research Center for Environmental Health

+49 89 3187 1578 teresa.rodriguez@helmholtz-muenchen.de

“The research program of my laboratory is directed at identifying immunopathological aspects of human type 1 diabetes that will assist in reaching effective prevention or reversal of the disease. Key to achieving this is to define the interactions between environmental, immune, and intrinsic beta cell factors that underlie the inability of patients with type 1 diabetes to maintain immunological tolerance.”

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"My goal is to work with human samples in order to be able to translate my findings more efficiently into patients. My wish is to use new technologies to look at the human pancreas and to beta cells on a way that no one has looked before."

Teresa Rodriguez-Calvo (D.V.M., Ph.D.) studied veterinary medicine at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM) in Spain, and completed her PhD in Veterinary Science at the Research Center for Animal Health (CISA) in 2012. In this Biosafety level-3 facility, she acquired her passion for viruses and she focused her research on Immunology and Virology, studying the immune response against Foot and Mouth Disease Virus (FMDV) and Bluetongue Virus (BTV), and specifically the role of dendritic cells during the course of infection. In 2012 she joined La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI), in La Jolla, California, United States, as a postdoc under the supervision of Prof. Matthias von Herrath, and in 2015 she was promoted to Instructor. In April 2017, she joined the Institute of Diabetes Research (Helmholtz Munich) in Munich, Germany, and started her own laboratory to continue her research with a focus on the immunopathology of human type 1 diabetes.

Teresa Rodriguez-Calvo (D.V.M., Ph.D.) and her team are on a mission to understand the development of type 1 diabetes. She works in close collaboration with the JDRF-funded Network for Pancreatic Organ Donors with Diabetes (nPOD) to investigate key mechanisms of viral infection and the immune response against enteroviruses. Dr. Rodriguez-Calvo is also interested in understanding the early changes that take place in the pancreas in individuals at risk of developing the disease and, specifically, if there is a defect in beta cell function before clinical onset and how the immune system might interact with and recognize these “defective beta cells”.

Teresa Rodriguez-Calvo is involved in a wide range of scientific and research activities and shares her experiences in various scientific and editorial working groups, committees & collaborations:

Since 2024: Network for Pancreatic Organ Donors (nPOD) Key Question Working Group Leader. Prohormone processing.
Since 2024: Member of the Science Leading Team of INNODIA (www.innodia.org).
Since 2024: Member of the Diversity Audit team, Helmholtz Diabetes Center representative, Helmholtz Munich.
2024: Helmholtz Diabetes Center (HDC) faculty committee member (elected by HDC investigators), Helmholtz Munich.
Since 2021: Coordinator of the Helmholtz Diabetes Center Seminar Series. Helmholtz Munich, Munich, Germany.
Since 2021: Associate Editor for Autoimmune and Autoinflammatory Disorders (specialty section of Frontiers in Immunology).
Since 2020: Research Topic Editor for Frontiers in Endocrinology.
Member of the International Organizing Committee for the 19th Immunology of Diabetes Society meeting, Paris, France.
Member of the Planning Committee for the 18th Immunology of Diabetes Society Meeting, Nashville, Tennessee, USA.
2022-24: Managing Board Member and work package 3 (WP3) co-leader: Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) INNODIA and its translational follow-up project INNODA HARVEST (Type 1 Diabetes Therapeutic Approach).
Member of the nPOD Pro-hormone working group.
Member of the nPOD Data Science working group.
Member of the nPOD-Autoimmunity working group.
Member of the nPOD-Virus working group.

Since 2022

Since 2017

2015 - 2017

2012 - 2015

Type 1 diabetes Pathogenesis Immunology Pancreas pathology Microscopy and image analysis

2024 - Recipient of EFSD/Sanofi European Diabetes Research Programme on autoimmunity in type 1 diabetes.
2018, 2020 and 2022 - The George S. Eisenbarth nPOD Award for Team Science. Helmsley Charitable Trust. Network for Pancreatic Organ Donors with Diabetes (nPOD).
2020 - JDRF Career Development Award for her work in understanding the development of type 1 diabetes.
2020 - DZD Next Young Talent Program Award
2019 - Organizer of the 3rd Follow-up “Persistent virus infection as a cause of pathogenic inflammation in type 1 diabetes” (PEVNET) meeting. Munich, Germany
2017 - Best Poster award 2nd joint meeting of the EASD - Islet Study Group and the Beta Cell Workshop. Dresden, Germany
2017 - Travel award The 15th International Congress of the Immunology of Diabetes Society (IDS). San Francisco, USA
2016 - Travel award 52nd European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD). Munich, Germany
2015 - nPOD Investigator Spotlight
2015 - Young Investigator Award for outstanding contributions to diabetes research Network for Pancreatic Organ Donors with Diabetes (nPOD)
2015 - Travel award The 14th International Congress of the Immunology of Diabetes Society (IDS). Munich, Germany
2013 - Best Poster award and travel award The 13th International Congress of the Immunology of Diabetes Society (IDS). Lorne, Victoria, Australia
2011 - Travel award Building Bridges Workshop. The European Research Group for Epizootic Disease Diagnosis (EPIZONE). Beijing, China
2010 - Travel award 14th International Congress of Immunology (ICI), Kobe, Japan
2010 - Travel award The European Research Group for Epizootic Disease Diagnosis (EPIZONE) Theme 5 meeting. Copenhagen, Denmark
2009 - Travel award The European Research Group for Epizootic Disease Diagnosis (EPIZONE) Theme 5 meeting. Paris, France

Variante: Gold Star Awards Luxury Background — Gold Star Awards Luxury Background

Reviewer for the following journals: Clinical and Experimental Immunology, PLoS One, PNAS, Diabetes, Microbes and Infection, Diabetologia, iScience, Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences, Journal of Translational Research, FASEB, Scientific Reports, Molecular Immunology, Viral Immunology, Microorganism, Journal of Clinical Medicine, Endocrine Reviews, PLoS Pathogens, BMC Endocrine Disorders, Epidemiology and Infection, Biomedicine and Pharmacotherapy journal, Acta Histochemica, Cell Metabolism, Frontiers in Immunology, Frontiers in Endocrinology, Biology Open, Science Advances, Nature Communications, Molecular Metabolism.

Reviewer for Bourses et Mandats/Grants and Fellowships 2023 Doctorants/PhD students of the Fund for Scientific Research FNRS. Scientific scholar.

Grant Reviewer for the University of Colorado Diabetes Research Center Pilot and Feasibility Program 2022.

Expert Collaborator of the Spanish State Research Agency (AEI). Grant Reviewer for the Open call: Knowledge Generation Projects 2021 and Open call: Vasc Country University. Pre-doctoral contracts PIF Modality I and II 2022.

Grant Review Panel Member for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF). Pilot Studies for Mechanisms of T1D Disease Pathogenesis RFA, FY19 Beta Cell Replacement and Beta Cell Regeneration Innovative Awards Review and SRA Program Requests (Ad Hoc).

Mallone R, Sims E, Achenbach P, Mathieu C, Pugliese A, Atkinson M, Dutta S, Evans-Molina C, Klatzmann D, Koralova A, Long SA, Overbergh L, Rodriguez-Calvo T, Ziegler AG, You S.

Emerging Concepts and Success Stories in Type 1 Diabetes Research: A Road Map for a Bright Future.

Apaolaza PS, Chen YC, Grewal K, Lurz Y, Boulassel S, Verchere CB, Rodriguez-Calvo T.

Quantitative analysis of islet prohormone convertase 1/3 expression in human pancreas donors with diabetes.

Vecchio F, Carré A, Korenkov D, Zhou Z, Apaolaza P, Tuomela S, Burgos-Morales O, Snowhite I, Perez-Hernandez J, Brandao B, Afonso G, Halliez C, Kaddis J, Kent SC, Nakayama M, Richardson SJ, Vinh J, Verdier Y, Laiho J, Scharfmann R, Solimena M, Marinicova Z, Bismuth E, Lucidarme N, Sanchez J, Bustamante C, Gomez P, Buus S; nPOD-Virus Working Group; You S, Pugliese A, Hyoty H, Rodriguez-Calvo T, Flodstrom-Tullberg M, Mallone R.

Coxsackievirus infection induces direct pancreatic β cell killing but poor antiviral CD8+ T cell responses.

Apaolaza PS, Balcacean D, Zapardiel-Gonzalo J, Rodriguez-Calvo T.

The extent and magnitude of islet T cell infiltration as powerful tools to define the progression to type 1 diabetes

Apaolaza PS.; Balcacean D.; Zapardiel-Gonzalo J.; Nelson G.; Lenchik N.; Akhbari P.; Gerling I.; Richardson SJ.; Rodriguez-Calvo T. and the nPOD-Virus Group.

The interferon response markers MxA, PKR and HLA-I are expressed in the islets in type 1 diabetes and correlate with the presence of viral protein and insulitis.

Apaolaza PS, Petropoulou PI, Rodriguez-Calvo T.

Whole-Slide Image Analysis of Human Pancreas Samples to Elucidate the Immunopathogenesis of Type 1 Diabetes Using the QuPath Software.

Rodriguez-Calvo T, Chen YC, Verchere CB, Haataja L, Arvan P, Leete P, Richardson SJ, Morgan NG, Qian WJ, Pugliese A, Atkinson M, Evans-Molina C, Sims EK.

Altered β-Cell Prohormone Processing and Secretion in Type 1 Diabetes.

Rodriguez-Calvo T.

Enterovirus infection and type 1 diabetes: unraveling the crime scene.

Rodriguez-Calvo T, Richardson SJ, Pugliese A.

Pancreas Pathology During the Natural History of Type 1 Diabetes.