Genetics and Development of Natural Tolerance Unit of the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (Portugal)
(Unidade de Genética e Desenvolvimento da Tolerância Natural da Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia)

This Unit was created in 1999, and has been operating since 2000, during which time it has repeatedly been awarded the official rating of "Excellent" by the national Foundation for Science and Tecnology (FCT). The research programme of the Unit, involving just over 40 scientists at the IGC and several collaborations with other institutions, concerns physiopathology, genetics and evolution of the immune system, immunity to viruses, bacteria and parasites, host interactions with pathogenic and commensal microbes, inflammation,  genetics of autoimmune diseases, and epidemiology. The scientists in the Unit explore the experimental systems of flies and mice, while also addressing relevant questions in humans. The Unit has worked closely with several Portuguese patient groups, and maintains active collaborations with a variety of research groups and institutions, both in Portugal and abroad.

The following IGC Principal Investigators and their research groups belong to this Unit:

• António Coutinho
• Carlos Penha Gonçalves (Disease Genetics)
• Isabel Gordo (Evolutionary Biology)
• Jorge Carneiro (Quantitative Organism Biology)
• Miguel Soares (Inflammation)
• Jocelyne Demengeot (Lymphocyte Physiology)
• Gabriela Gomes (Collective Dynamics)
• Robert Parkhouse (Infection and Immunity)
• Vasco Barreto (Epigenetics and Soma)
• Alekos Athanasiadis (Protein-Nucleic Acids Interactions)

The following IGC Research Fellows also belong to this Unit:

• Luis Rosário (Cardiac Regeneration)
• Elisabetta Padovan (Antigen Presentation and T Cell Activation)
• Claudine Chaouiya (Network Modelling)