- Assistant Professor, Department of Immunobiology, Yale School of Medicine, Yale University
Dr. Etienne Caron is a Canadian scientist with a background in biotechnology and systems immunology. He received his PhD from the University of Montreal under the guidance of Dr. Claude Perreault and completed postdoctoral training at ETH Zürich under Dr. Ruedi Aebersold. He is internationally recognized for his leadership and expertise in immunopeptidomics — the global analysis of MHC-associated peptides using mass spectrometry technologies.
Dr. Caron began his independent career as a Principal Investigator in 2018 at the University of Montreal. In 2023, he was recruited to Yale University, where he holds appointments in the Department of Immunobiology, the Yale Center for Immuno-Oncology (YCIO), the Yale Center for Infection and Immunity (CII), and the Yale Center for Systems and Engineering Immunology (CSEI).
Among his most significant scientific contributions, Dr. Caron was the first to identify tumor-specific mutated peptides — known as neoantigens — using mass spectrometry, and to develop data-independent acquisition mass spectrometry for immunopeptidome analysis. He initiated the Human Immunopeptidome Project and served as its Chair from 2015 to 2020. He has co-founded the biotechnology startup Neomabs Biotechnologies Inc. and has collaborated extensively with industry partners including Biognosys, Flagship Pioneering, and Bruker Daltonics.
In 2025, Dr. Caron received the NIH Director’s New Innovator Award, which supports early-stage investigators of exceptional creativity.