Maria Cecilia Canesso

2025 Regional Award Finalist — Post-Doc

Maria Cecilia Canesso

Current Position:
Research Associate

Institution:
The Rockefeller University

Discipline:
Immunology

Recognized for: Advancing our understanding of food allergies and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) by developing new tools to uncover how immune cells communicate in the intestine, laying the foundation for more effective treatments.

Areas of Research Interest and Expertise:
Mucosal Immunology, Cellular Communication, Food Allergy, Microbiota

Previous Positions:

BSc, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil
BSc, Monash University, Australia (visiting student) (Advisor: Charles R. Mackay)
MSc, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil (Advisor: Luciola Barcelos)
PhD, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil (Advisor: Ana Faria)
PhD, The Rockefeller University (visiting student) (Advisor: Daniel Mucida)
Postdoctoral Fellow, The Rockefeller University (Advisors: Daniel Mucida and Gabriel Victora)

Research Summary:

The immune system must constantly integrate environmental cues to maintain a delicate balance between tolerance and inflammation. Disruptions in this balance can lead to common conditions such as food allergies and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), for which effective treatments are still limited. Dr. Maria Cecilia Canesso pioneered the use of a high-resolution mapping tool, called LIPSTIC, in the intestine to map the immune cell interactions crucial for developing food tolerance and distinguishing between beneficial and infectious microbes. Canesso’s work provides insight into the complex intestinal environment, opening the door for the design of targeted therapies for inflammatory conditions.

“I’m fascinated by how cellular communication in the gut can sustain balance or trigger conflict. I’m incredibly honored to receive this award for my work to decode these cellular signals, which I hope will uncover fundamental principles underlying intestinal disorders.”

Key Publications:

  1.  M.C.C Canesso, T.B.R. de Castro, S. Nakandakari-Higa, A. Lockhart, J. Luehr, J. Bortolatto, R. Parsa, D. Esterházy, M. Lyu, T.T. Liu, K.M. Murphy, G.F. Sonnenberg, B.S. Reis, G.D. Victora, D. Mucida. Identification of antigen-presenting cell-T cell interactions driving immune responses to food. Science, 2025.
  2. S. Nakandakari-Higa, S. Walker*, M.C.C Canesso*, V. van der Heide, A. Chudnovskiy, D.Y Kim, J.T. Jacobsen, R. Parsa, J. Bilanovic, S.M. Parigi, K. Fiedorczuk, E. Fuchs, A.M. Bilate, G. Pasqual, D. Mucida, A.O. Kamphorst,  Y. Pritykin, G.D. Victora. Universal recording of immune cell interactions in vivo. Nature, 2024.
  3. D. Esterhazy*, M.C.C Canesso*, L. Mesin, P.A. Muller, T.B.R. Castro, A. Lockhart, M. ElJalbay, A.M.C Faria, D. Mucida. Compartmentalized gut lymph node drainage dictates adaptive immune responses. Nature, 2019.

Other Honors:

2024 Future Leaders of Immunology Symposium Fellow, Scripps Research
2024 MIT Biology Catalyst Symposium Fellow, MIT
2023 Leading Edge Fellow
2023 Emerging Leaders Symposium Fellow, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
2023 K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award, NIAID
2021 ScientistA Award, Dimensions Sciences
2019 Pew Latin American Postdoctoral Fellowship, The Pew Charitable Trusts
2019 Rising Star in Mucosal Immunology, The Society of Mucosal Immunology
2019 Best Ph.D. thesis in Immunology, Brazilian National Award CAPES
2019 Best Ph.D. thesis in Immunology, Federal University of Minas Gerais

In the Media:

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