Eduardo Villablanca

Eduardo Villablanca

Professor
Telephone: +46852484308
Visiting address: L8:03, CMM, Karolinska Universitetssjukhuset Solna, 17176 Stockholm
Postal address: K2 Medicin, Solna, K2 Imm o lung Villablanca E, 171 77 Stockholm
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About me

  • During my Master degree, I was trained as a developmental biologist, with expertise in cell migration using zebrafish as in vivo model. As a doctoral student in the molecular medicine program at San Raffaele University, Milan, I started my training as immunologist with specific focus on dendritic cells (DC) and tumor cell interaction. I identified a novel immune escape mechanism in which tumors produce and secrete oxysterols, which in turn target LXR receptors inhibiting CCR7 expression in DC (*J. **immunol**, J. Leuko. Biol.* and *Nat. Medicine*). Interested in intestinal leukocyte trafficking, I joined J. Rodrigo Mora’s lab (Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston) to perform my postdoctoral training. During the first two years I contributed to determine the mechanisms by which intestinal DC gain their gut-associated tolerogenic properties (*Gastroenterology*, *J. Immunology, Cell*, etc.).

    In 2010, I won the prestigious postdoctoral fellow award from the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America (CCFA) and took the lead of a project aimed to further characterize the mechanisms of oral immunological tolerance induction. I found that expressions of gut homing receptors (e.g. CCR9) are crucial on leukocytes to establish oral immunological tolerance (*Gastroenteroglogy* and *Gut*). Given my accomplishments during my fourth and last year as a postdoctoral training I was supported by Dr. Mora and Dr. Ramnik Xavier (chief of the GI unit) to be promoted Instructor in Medicine at Harvard Medical School. As Instructor in Medicine and in order to start defining my own research path I joined Dr. Xavier lab to study the function of IBD risk genes in the context of intestinal immune homeostasis (*Nat. Comm., Immunity, Cell rep*., etc).

    Motivated by cutting-edge research performed as well as the prestige of the institution I decide to look for a position at the Karolinska Institutet. In 2013, I was awarded the Center for Immune Modulatory Therapies for Autoimmnity and Cancer (IMTAC) senior research fellow Based on a scientific plan proposing to study the connection between DC trafficking from the bone marrow and gut immunological tolerance. Hence I started my own research group in November 2014, as an assistant professor at the department of Medicine, Solna (MedS). With background in developmental biology, tumor and mucosal immunology using either zebrafish and mouse models as well as human samples, I believe I am poised to uniquely contribute to elucidate the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying IBD.

    In 2010, I won the prestigious postdoctoral fellow award from the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America (CCFA) and took the lead of a project aimed to further characterize the mechanisms of oral immunological tolerance induction. Hence I started my own research group as an assistant professor at the department of Medicine, Solna (MedS). I have received the Swedish Research Council Young Scientist Award (6 MSEK/4 years), FORMAS (3 MSEK/3 years) and I have been appointed as Wallenberg Academy Fellow (7.5 MSEK/5 years) towards developing a cutting-edge biomedical research program focused on intestinal mucosal immunology. I have achieved national and international recognition for my work as can be inferred from the numerous talks I have been giving in U.S., Europe, Asia and South-America, and from awards and funding I have obtained thus far. I have also been named one of the 40 under 40 most promising Latin-American Scientist by the South American magazine “Que Pasa”.

    Selected awards

    - Wallenberg Academy Fellow, Knut and Alice Wallenberg foundation (2014)

    - IMTAC FoAss position award, chosen as primary candidate (2014)

    - CCFA research award, Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America (CCFA), NY,  USA (2010)


    Others awards

    - 40 under 40 in Latin American Science, Que Pasa magazine (2014)

    - Best paper award, San Raffaele Institute, Milan, Italy (2010)

    - Best presentation award, RCAI International summer Program 2010, Yokohama,

    Japan (2010)

    Scholarships and travel awards

    - DC2012 Travel Award

    - Keystone symposia scholarship, To attend the Mucosal Immunology Symposia, Vancouver, Canada (2011)

    - RCAI Fellowship, To attend the RCAI International Summer Program, Yokohama, Japan (2010)

    - LACI Scholarship, To attend “The 9th Latin American congress of Immunology”, Chile (2009)

    - EMBO Travelling fellowship, To participate in the EMBO practical course: "Enhancer Detection, Gene Trapping and TILLING in Zebrafish”, Bergen, Norway (2005)

    - Travelling fellowship Leloir Institute. To attend the course “Gene Therapy in Latin America: from the bench to the clinic”, Buenos Aires, Argentina. (2002)

    - ECOS-Conicyt ICM P99-137 Fellowship, To perform research at the laboratory of Dr. Alain Ghysen, Montpellier, France (2002)

    Courses and degrees

    1998, B.S. Bachelor of Science, University of Chile, Santiago

    12/2004, M.Sc.Molecular Biotechnology Engineer University of Chile, Santiago

    10/2007, Ph.D. Biomedical Sciences, Immunology, Under the supervision of Vincenzo Russo, M.D., Universita Vita-Salute, Milan

    Current position

    11/2014 – Present, Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, Karolinska Institutet

    11/2015 – Present Faculty member, SciLifeLab

    02/2016 – Present Group Leader, Department of Medicine, Karolinska Institutet

    Previous positions including post doc-appointments

    03/2008 – 02/2012 Postdoctoral Fellow in Mucosal Immunology, MGH, Harvard Medical School, Boston. Under the supervision of J. Rodrigo Mora, M.D.. Ph.D.

    02/2012 – 11/2014 Instructor in Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA. Under the supervision of Ramnik J. Xavier, M.D.. Ph.D.

    02/2012 – 11/2014 Assistant Immunologist, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA

    03/2012 – 11/2014 Research Scientist, Broad Institute, Cambridge, MA

Research

  • Our lab is seeking to understand the genetic, cellular and environmental contribution towards inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) susceptibility. We have developed a research program that integrates cellular immunology, bioinformatics, and the creation of novel in vivo models to ultimately interrogate the function of IBD-associated polymorphisms as well as to study host-microbiota interactions. In particular, we are trying to understand how deregulation of intestinal immune homeostasis might lead to IBD and trying to discover the function of IBD-risk genes identified by Genome Wide Association Studies (GWAS).

    To discover the function of IBD-risk genes, we focus on biological processes that are involved at the initiation (priming of adaptive immune responses), progression (chronic inflammation) or resolution (tissue repair) of IBD. To translate genetic mutations to function, we have developed an innovative pipeline that integrate bioinformatics and animal models, including zebrafish and mouse, to ultimately validate candidate mutations in human tissues by using organoids. We aim to transform the way in which the gene-environment interactions are currently being investigated.

Selected publications

Articles

All other publications

Grants

  • Swedish Research Council
    1 January 2026 - 31 December 2029
    Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), including Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis (UC), affects millions worldwide, with rising incidence placing a growing burden on healthcare systems. UC is highly heterogeneous, with diverse clinical presentations, and current anti-inflammatory treatments often fail, emphasizing the need for alternative therapies.Our research aims to redefine UC through a forward-looking, data-driven approach. For the first time, our lab has classified UC patients into two molecularly distinct subtypes: UC1 and UC2. UC1 patients show increased tissue injury and poor response to biological therapies, while UC2 patients exhibit enhanced mucosal healing and better therapeutic outcomes. We hypothesize that these subtypes reflect differences in tissue damage and regenerative capacity, which could guide personalized treatment strategies. To validate and expand this classification, we will apply multi-omics approaches across independent patient cohorts and large datasets. By combining single-cell RNA sequencing, spatial biology (including transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics), and ex vivo and in vivo models, we will generate a comprehensive functional atlas of UC endotypes and mucosal healing.This integrative strategy aims to identify novel druggable targets to promote mucosal regeneration, particularly for UC1 patients who lack effective treatments, advancing personalized medicine in UC.
  • Swedish Research Council
    1 October 2025 - 31 March 2026
    Over 90% of new drugs fail in human trials because preclinical models cannot fully capture human physiology. At the same time, the future of biomedicine is increasingly data-driven
    however, AI models are limited by the scarcity of high-quality human data. Organoids have narrowed this gap, but they still fall short of the complexity of real tissues. This underscores the urgent need for advanced, human-relevant systems that can both train AI and accelerate the translation of benefits into clinical, societal, and industrial applications.We propose a Cluster of Excellence to position Sweden at the forefront of this global paradigm shift toward AI-powered, human-centered research. Our vision is an integrated ecosystem that combines AI with organoid co-cultures, recreating complex tissues from all major organs—establishing a powerful feedback loop for continuous innovation.By uniting expertise in clinical biobanking, organoid biology, AI, spatial omics, and bioprinting, we will develop next-generation human disease models for the entire scientific community. Our ability to model more than 11 organ systems provides a unique strategic advantage. Through open science initiatives, we will bring together clinicians, patient groups, industry, and ethicists across the full research pipeline—from discovery to public dissemination.Together, this Cluster will transform human model systems and secure Sweden’s leadership in predictive and personalized medicine.
  • Swedish Research Council
    1 October 2025 - 31 March 2026
    Spatial omics is a cutting edge field that enables unprecedented high-resolution mapping of molecular features, such as RNA, proteins, and metabolites, directly within intact tissues. These technologies are transforming how we study biology and disease by revealing the spatial organization of cell states and tissue architecture. Sweden has played a leading role in the development of spatial omics, including key technologies such as spatial transcriptomics, in situ sequencing, multiplexed imaging, among others. Building on this foundation, we propose a planning grant to prepare a national Cluster of Excellence in Spatial Omics that bridges fundamental technology development with biomedical and clinical applications.The planning initiative brings together researchers from KI, KTH, and Stockholm University, representing expertise in molecular biology, engineering, data science, life sciences and translational medicine. During the six-month planning period, we will organize workshops and coordination meetings between these researchers and the wider life sciences community to brainstorm and identify scientific priorities and milestones, define collaborative structures, including a research school, and ensure alignment with clinical, infrastructural, and societal needs. The outcome will be a roadmap for a full cluster proposal and a long-term strategy to foster Swedish leadership in this transformative field.
  • European Research Council
    1 July 2024 - 30 June 2030
    Microbiome-host crosstalk is crucial for gut homeostasis and its dysregulation is a hallmark of diseases such as colorectal cancer (CRC) and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Despite its key relevance for a holistic understanding of the human superorganism and its (patho-)physiology, how local host-microbiome interactions form specific niches in the gut and how these niches function at the cellular and molecular level remains unexplored, mainly due to a lack of suitable technologies. To fill this gap, we propose to jointly reconstruct the host transcriptional and microbiome compositional landscape of the human gut across a large number of healthy individuals as well as IBD and CRC patients. For this, we will leverage a combination of novel spatial profiling technologies for unbiased transcriptome sequencing and microbiome profiling at single-cell resolution in situ. First, we will spatially delineate local niches formed of specific microbes and host cells. To dissect this complex crosstalk into specific interactions, we will secondly use in vitro and in vivo models to introduce perturbations either on the host or the microbiome side. Finally, we will integrate the resulting data to deconvolute host-microbiome circuits computationally and to predict functional niches, in particular host responses to pathogens of relevance in IBD and CRC. Interesting predictions will be tested in organoid and animal models. Developing a spatially resolved computational model of the gut ecosystem will allow us to predict early local events in disease onset
    from these we will identify and validate prognostic IBD and CRC biomarkers for future clinical translation. This work will revolutionize our understanding of intestinal host-microbiome interactions by adding a first-ever functionally resolved spatial dimension with clinical relevance for the future diagnosis and treatment of intestinal disorders.
  • Swedish Research Council for Environment Agricultural Sciences and Spatial Planning
    1 January 2023 - 31 December 2025
  • Characterization of UC1 and UC2 patients; towards precision medicine in UC
    Crohn's and Colitis Foundation
    1 July 2022 - 30 June 2023
  • Swedish Research Council
    1 December 2021 - 30 November 2025
  • Swedish Research Council
    1 January 2019 - 31 December 2021
  • Swedish Research Council for Environment Agricultural Sciences and Spatial Planning
    1 January 2017 - 31 December 2019
  • Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
    1 January 2017 - 31 December 2019
  • Swedish Research Council
    1 January 2015 - 31 December 2018
  • Role of retinoic acid in dendritic cell 'education' in the gut: Implications for tolerogenic mucosa
    Crohn's and Colitis Foundation
    1 July 2010 - 30 June 2013

Employments

  • Professor, Department of Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, 2025-
  • Principal Researcher, Department of Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, 2022-2024

Degrees and Education

  • Docent, Karolinska Institutet, 2018

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