Juliana Cassataro | Professor
University of San Martin

Juliana Cassataro, PhD, is a Senior Researcher at CONICET and Associate Professor at the Universidad Nacional de San Martín (UNSAM), Argentina, where she leads the Laboratory of Immunology, Infectious Diseases and Vaccine Development. Her research focuses on immunology, infectious diseases, vaccine development, and innovative adjuvant and immunomodulatory strategies, with particular emphasis on mucosal and next-generation vaccines. Throughout her career, she has combined basic immunology with translational vaccine research, developing novel vaccine antigens, adjuvants, preclinical models, and immunomodulatory approaches against infectious diseases. Her work on the bacterial protease inhibitor U-Omp19 established a novel class of vaccine adjuvants and has been supported by multiple international grants, including three awards from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. This research has resulted in internationally granted patents and collaborations with academic, governmental, and industry partners. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she led the development of ARVAC, an Argentine recombinant protein-based booster vaccine against SARS-CoV-2. She coordinated a multidisciplinary consortium of more than 500 professionals from over 20 public and private institutions, overseeing vaccine formulation, preclinical development, clinical trials, regulatory strategy, and technology transfer. ARVAC became the first vaccine against COVID developed entirely in South America that receive regulatory approval and reach commercialization and distribution. Her research has resulted in 68 scientific publications and three international patents, and she has supervised doctoral, postdoctoral, and early-career researchers. She has received several major scientific distinctions, including the Bunge y Born Foundation Award (2014), Houssay Award (2017), Science and Technology Democracy Award (2021), Konex Award (2023), UNESCO-L’Oréal National Award for Women in Science (2023), and the Latin American Association of Immunology Women in Science Award (2024). Her career combines scientific leadership with extensive experience in large-scale vaccine R&D programs, spanning discovery, adjuvant and formulation development, preclinical and clinical evaluation, regulatory pathways, intellectual property, and successful translation of vaccines from academic research to industrial production.