Judith Agudo - Beware of your inner self-immune attack

Sep 28, 2026

Uploaded by ahduag

People & Ideas features Judith Agudo and her work on how adult and cancer stem cells evade immune responses. Her research targets engineering autoimmunity- and allograft-resistant stem cells and enhancing cancer stem cell responses to immunotherapy. The document traces her path from biology and biochemistry studies to immunology training, including the JEDI mouse model, and discusses ongoing and future lab directions linking immune evasion, stress, and aging.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

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Reading Time8 min

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People & Ideas

Judith Agudo: Beware of your inner self-immune attack

Background and training

Research focus and key questions

Current work and future directions

PEOPLE & IDEAS Judith Agudo: Beware of your inner self-immune attack Lucia Morgado-Palacin Judith Agudo studies the mechanisms that adult and cancer stem cells use to evade the immune response with the goals of engineering autoimmunity-and allograft-resistant stem cells and improving the response of cancer stem cells to immunotherapy. The everyday of a third grader is full of surprises. They can learn about tints and shades and what an antibiotic is on the very same day. How, by inadvertently leaving an uncovered Petri dish next to an open window, Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin—synthesized by the mold that contaminated the bacteria plate—was a story that stuck in Judith Agudo’s head. Her mom is positive that’s probably when Judith ﬁrst genuinely thought about becoming a scientist, as she burst open the front door shouting, “Mom, I want to save millions of lives like Fleming did.” A couple of decades later, Judith is on the right track. Born and raised in a working-class neighborhood near Barcelona, Spain, Judith pursued a degree in biology and a PhD in biochemistry and molecular biology at the Autonomous University of Barcelona. Her thesis focused on regenerative medicine for the treatment of diabetes—Judith found a potential target, VEGF, for preventing β cell mass loss during type 2 diabetes. However, she realized that for type 1 diabetes, which isan autoimmune disorder, no regenerative approach would be successful without neutralizing the self-immune attack. Thus, she switched gears to immunology for her postdoctoral training. Judith obtained a Fulbright fellowship in 2010 and moved to New York to join the lab ofDr. Brian Brown in the Immunology Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. There, she investigated how microRNAs regulate innate immunity. Judith also engineered a model to study T cell function in vivo, which has one of the coolest names heard in science: JEDI (Just EGFP Death Inducing). The JEDI mice generate CD8+ T cells that recognize and kill any EGFP-expressing cell type; thus, one can deplete speciﬁc cell populations in the body or investigate how T cells interact with tissue stem cells. Judith depleted a rare population in the heart, Hcn4+ cells, and showed their function in cardiac conduction and pacemaking (1) . Thanks to this model, she also clariﬁed that not all tissue stem cells are immune privileged—only those that are quiescent can escape immune detection (2) . These ﬁndings prompted Judith to ask whether quiescence is also a requirement for cancer stem cells to evade T cell recognition. With this idea in mind, she set up her own her lab at one of the most prestigious cancer institutes across the world, the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI), in 2017. Judith is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Cancer Immunology and Virology at DFCI and in the Department of Immunology at Harvard Medical School. We chatted with Judith to learn more about her journey and future endeavors. What drew you to the study of the immune evasion mechanisms of adult and cancer stem cells? My PhD work focused on regenerating β cells for the treatment of diabetes. However, Judith Agudo. Photo courtesy of Albert Ruzo. I soon realized that without halting the autoimmune attack, no regenerative approaches would be successful. This prompted me to explore the mechanisms of autoimmunity. I enjoy working on technology development, so I engineered a mouse model to investigate immune responses against almost any cell type (1) . I was then curious to know if stem cells, so often utilized in regenerative medicine, could resist an autoimmune attack. If they could, the tissue could potentially regrow once the immune attack subsides. Otherwise, it would be destroyed. This drove my interest in studying how healthy stem cells evade the immune system (2) . Afterward, I became interested in what happens when stem cells become cancerous and how cancer stem cells interact with the immu

FAQs

What problem does Judith Agudo focus on in her research?

She studies how adult and cancer stem cells evade immune responses, aiming to engineer cells resistant to autoimmunity and allograft rejection while improving cancer immunotherapy outcomes.

How did Judith Agudo’s early interests shape her career path?

Her PhD work on regenerating β cells for diabetes led her to realize that stopping autoimmune attack is necessary, motivating her to switch to immunology for postdoctoral training.

What is the purpose of the JEDI mouse model mentioned in the document?

JEDI mice generate CD8+ T cells that recognize and kill EGFP-expressing cells, enabling depletion of specific cell populations and study of how T cells interact with tissue stem cells in vivo.

Sep 28, 2026

Uploaded by ahduag