Benedita Barata da Rocha (24 February 1949 – 2 October 2021) was a Portuguese immunologist. She earned her M.D. 1972 from the University of Lisbon, and her Ph.D. 1978 from the University of Glasgow, Scotland, UK. She was "directeur de recherche classe exceptionel" (DRCE) of the

CNRS The French National Centre for Scientific Research (french: link=no, Centre national de la recherche scientifique, CNRS) is the French state research organisation and is the largest fundamental science agency in Europe. In 2016, it employed 31,637 ...

and director of a research unit of the INSERM at the Necker Institute, Paris, France. Her major scientific contributions are in the areas of T cell immune tolerance,

T cell memory T, or t, is the twentieth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''tee'' (pronounced ), plural ''tees''. It is de ...

and development of

intraepithelial lymphocytes Intraepithelial lymphocytes (IEL) are lymphocytes found in the epithelial layer of mammalian mucosal linings, such as the gastrointestinal (GI) tract and reproductive tract. However, unlike other T cells, IELs do not need priming. Upon encounterin ...

. In 2007 she received the CNRS Silver Medal award and in 2009 a

European Research Council The European Research Council (ERC) is a public body for funding of scientific and technological research conducted within the European Union (EU). Established by the European Commission in 2007, the ERC is composed of an independent Scientific ...

advanced grant. She published more than 100 research articles.

Major works

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References

1949 births 2021 deaths People from Lisbon Portuguese immunologists University of Lisbon alumni Alumni of the University of Glasgow Research directors of the French National Centre for Scientific Research {{Immunology-stub