CV Science

Sophie Ugolini PhD Immunology, Research director (DR) INSERM

Course and current status

Current position

- Research Director (DR), Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM),

- Head of the lab. "Neural regulation of immunity. Centre d'Immunologie de Marseille-Luminy (CIML),  France

- Co-founder, scientific director and member of the Board of directors of Temper Bio

 

Education

1998:                 PhD in Immunology, Aix-Marseille University, Marseille, France 

 

Research

1995-1998:        PhD work, laboratory of Quentin Sattentau, Centre d’immunologie de Marseille-Luminy (CIML), France.

1998-2000:        First postdoctoral position, Laboratory of Eric Vivier, CIML, France.  

2000-2001:        Second postdoctoral position, laboratory of Nicolas Glaichenhaus, Institut de Pharmacologie Moleculaire et Cellulaire (IPMC), Sophia Antipolis, Nice, France.

2001-2006:        Junior scientist (CR2, INSERM) in the NK Cells and Innate Immunity Laboratory, CIML, France.

2006:                 Visiting scientist, laboratory of Bruce Beutler, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California, USA.

2006:                 Senior scientist (CR1, INSERM), CIML, France.

2010-2015:        Co-management, with Eric Vivier, of the NK Cells and Innate Immunity Laboratory, CIML.

2012:                 Research Director (DR2, INSERM), CIML, France.

2013:                 Visiting Scientist, laboratory of Jean-Laurent Casanova, The Rockefeller University, New York, USA.

2015:                 Visiting Scientist at the Walter and Elisa Hall Institute (WEHI) and the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, Melboune, VIC, Australia.

2015-present:   Principal investigator of the ERC consolidator program “Neural Regulation of Immunity”, CIML, Marseille, France 

 

Teaching

1995-1998:        Cell biology tutor, Aix-Marseille University.

2002:                 Immunology teaching, Universités du Monde, Ougadougou, Burkina Faso. 

2005-2013:        Immunology teaching for Masters programs (M2), Aix-Marseille University

2007-2011:        Co-organizer of a Masters program (M1) at Marseille Medical School

2013:                 Co-organizer of a Masters program (M2), Aix-Marseille University

 

Committees and responsibilities

- Member of the scientific advisory board of INSERM (2012-2017)

- Member of the scientific council of the office parlementaire d'évaluation des choix scientifiques et technologiques (OPECST) (2016-present)

- Member of the scientific committee (# 1) of the Association pour la Recherche sur le Cancer (ARC), France (2009-2014)

- Expert for ANR (Agence Nationale de la Recherche)

- Expert for the FRS-FNRS (Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique), Belgium and for the Austrian Science Fund (FWF)

- Organization of internal seminars at CIML (2002-2015)

- Jury member for the Masters 2 course in Development and Immunology, Aix-Marseille University (2009-2010)

- Referee for Nature, Science Translational Medicine, Blood, PNAS, J. Immunol., FASEB J., Eur.J. Immunol, Int. Immunol., Scientific Report…

- Associate Editor, Frontiers in NK Cell Biology

- Editor, Immunology Letters

 

Selected grants (as a principal investigator)

- European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator grant (2015-2020)

- Fondation ARC (Programme ARC: 2014-2017)

- Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR programme blanc: 2014-2019)

- Projet exploratoire région PACA (2014-2016)

- Ligue Nationale contre le Cancer, SensorImmune (2014-2016)

- Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR Jeune Chercheur: 2007-2011)

- Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR-ERC starting grant: 2008-2012)

 

Prizes and Awards

1998:               Thesis award from Aix-Marseille University

2011:               Dandrimont-Bénicourt Award from the Institut de France

2012:               Prix Recherche de l’INSERM 2012 (Research award from INSERM)

2012-present: Prime d’excellence scientifique (Scientific excellence award, INSERM)

2013:               Prix Duquesne (Duquesne Award) from la Ligue Nationale contre le Cancer

2015:  ERC Consolidator grant

2016:               Nomination AcademiaNet – Expert Database of Outstanding Female Academics 

 

Scientific summary

Since the beginning of her career, Sophie Ugolini has developed research programs dedicated to understanding how immune responses are regulated to ensure host protection while preserving tissue integrity. Her work has generated major advances in fundamental immunology, established new concepts in neuroimmunology, and led to significant translational developments.

 

1. Establishing fundamental principles governing innate immunity

The first major achievement of Sophie Ugolini’s career was her contribution to the understanding of Natural Killer (NK) cell biology and innate immune regulation. Through studies of viral infections and cancer, her work helped establish the concept that NK-cell function is dynamically calibrated by inhibitory receptors and environmental signals, a process now referred to as NK-cell education. These studies demonstrated that innate immune responses are not hard-wired but highly adaptable to tissue context and physiological conditions.

 

Her research further revealed the importance of cellular crosstalk between NK cells, neutrophils, macrophages and T lymphocytes in shaping antimicrobial immunity. These findings contributed significantly to the current understanding of immune regulation and innate immune plasticity and have been widely recognized by the international immunology community.

 

2. Pioneering neuroimmunology: revealing the role of sensory neurons in immunity

Following her promotion to Research Director in 2012, Sophie Ugolini initiated a highly innovative research program exploring the interactions between the nervous and immune systems. At a time when neuroimmunology was still an emerging field, she hypothesized that sensory neurons actively participate in host defense and tissue homeostasis.

 

Over the past decade, her laboratory has produced a series of landmark studies demonstrating that sensory neurons are not passive bystanders but key regulators of immune responses. Using complementary approaches in mouse models and human systems, her team demonstrated that neuronal signals control antiviral immunity, inflammation resolution and tissue repair. In particular, her group showed that nociceptive neurons regulate CD8 T-cell priming during HSV-1 infection and uncovered multiple neuroimmune pathways controlling immune-cell functions.

 

These discoveries have contributed to establishing neuroimmunology as a major area of investigation and have positioned her laboratory among the leading groups worldwide in the field. This body of work has been published in leading journals including Nature, Nature Immunology, Nature Communications, Immunity, Journal of Experimental Medicine and others, generating broad international visibility and influence.