Esteban Ballestar

Professor 
Josep Carreras Leukaemia Research Institute, Spain

Topic: Uncovering the Basis and Clinical Relevance of Epigenetics in Inflammation 

Prof. Esteban Ballestar is group leader at the Josep Carreras Research Institute (IJC) and Purple River Chair Professor at the Health Science Center at East China Normal University. Esteban Ballestar received his bachelor and doctoral degree in Biology from the University of Valencia. He then received postdoctoral research training at the National Institutes of Health (Bethesda, USA). After that period, Esteban Ballestar became Senior Scientist at the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO) in Madrid, Spain (the first 5-year period as a Ramon & Cajal Scientist). Esteban Ballestar became senior group leader at the Cancer Epigenetics and Biology Programme of the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL) in Barcelona, Spain. He then moved his research group to the Josep Carreras Research Institute in Barcelona. His team mainly works on dissecting the epigenetic alterations and underlying mechanisms in immune-mediated disease to dissect the mechanisms that trigger functional and pathologically relevant epigenetic alterations and develop markers for clinical purposes. Author of more than one hundred and fifty peer-reviewed manuscripts in high rank journals. In 2018, Ballestar was elected correspondent member of the Spanish Royal Academy of Sciences. Since 2024, Ballestar is Member of the International Union of Immunological Societies (IUIS) Education Board.