TWINCORE Symposium 2018

External speakers

Professor Ralf Bartenschlager

Department of Infectious Diseases, Molecular Virology, University Hospital Heidelberg

2002 - present: Full professor (C4) for “Molecular Virology”, Heidelberg University
2000 – 2002: Full professor for molecular virology (C3), Institute for Virology, University of Mainz
1999 – 2000: Associate professor at the Institute for Virology, University of Mainz
1994 – 1999: Independent group leader at the Institute for Virology, University of Mainz
1991 – 1993: Postdoc and leader of the HCV program, “Central research Unit” Hoffmann-LaRoche AG Basel, Switzerland

Dr. Ursula Buchholz

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH, Bethesda

Ursula Buchholz is a Senior Associate Scientist in the RNA Viruses Section, Laboratory of Infectious Diseases, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, USA. She studies the pathogenesis, molecular biology, and immunobiology of human respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and other respiratory viruses, and she focuses on the development of live-attenuated pediatric RSV vaccines, made by reverse genetics. Ulla Buchholz earned her PhD from the Free University Berlin in 1994. She did postdoctoral studies at the Federal Research Institute for Animal Health, Tuebingen, where she worked with Prof. K.-K. Conzelmann. In 1998, she was appointed to head a research group on the molecular biology of  bovine respiratory syncytial virus at the Federal Research Institute for Animal Health, Insel Riems. In 2002, she joined Dr. Peter L. Collins’ group in the Laboratory of Infectious Diseases, Division of Intramural Research of the NIAID, NIH, in order to focus on the development of vaccines against pediatric respiratory virus infections.

Professor Petra Dersch

Department of Molecular Infection Biology, Helmholtz-Centre for Infection Research, Braunschweig

Petra Dersch studied biology in Ulm and Konstanz. She completed her doctoral work at the Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology and at University of Konstanz, and did her post-doc at Tufts Medical School, Boston, USA, where she worked with Prof. Dr. Ralph Isberg. Upon her return to Germany, Petra Dersch worked as a scientific assistant at the Free University Berlin and, since 2003, headed a junior research group at the Robert Koch Institute in Berlin. In 2005, Petra Dersch habilitated in the field of microbiology. That same year, she accepted an Associate Professor position at the Technische Universität Braunschweig. Since 2008, she is also Chair of the Department of Molecular Infection Biology at the HZI. Her special research interest involves pathogenicity mechanisms and virulence genetic regulation of enteropathogenic bacteria, especially Yersinia.

Professor Alain Filloux

MRC Centre for Molecular Bacteriology and Infection, Imperial College, London

Professor Alain Filloux received his Ph.D. degree in 1988 from the “Université d'Aix-Marseille” in France. From 1988 to 1993, he stayed at the University of Utrecht (The Netherlands), initially as a postdoctoral fellow and was later appointed as an assistant professor. In 1994, he was recruited at the French National Centre of Scientific Research (CNRS) in Marseille (France), where he was appointed as the head of a research unit in 2003. In 2008, he was appointed as Professor in Molecular Microbiology at Imperial College London (UK) and is the deputy director of the MRC Centre of Molecular Bacteriology and Infection (CMBI). His research focuses on bacterial pathogenesis, molecular mechanisms of protein secretion, biofilm formation, and regulation of gene expression, using the bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa as model organism. Early in his career, he pointed to the existence of protein secretion systems, which later became known as types (T1SS, T2SS, T3SS, etc.). His current work is on c-di-GMP signalling, and type VI secretion system (T6SS) and his research is mostly supported by grants from BBSRC and MRC. Alain Filloux is for many years recognized as a world leader in P. aeruginosa research. He organised the Pseudomonas international meeting in Marseilles in 2005, he edited several books in the Pseudomonas series and a book compiling state of the art methods currently used to work with Pseudomonas species (Pseudomonas Methods). In 2013, he was appointed Editor-in-chief for FEMS Microbiology Reviews. In 2016, he was elected a fellow of the European Academy of Microbiology and in 2017 a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology.

Professor Michael P. Manns

Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Endocrinology, Medizinische Hochschule Hannover

Michael P. Manns is Director of the Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Endocrinology at Hannover Medical School (MHH), Hannover, Germany since 1991. Since 2015 he is Clinical Director of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI), Braunschweig, and Founding Director of the Centre for Individualised Infection Medicine (CIIM), Hannover. He graduated in medicine from the University of Vienna in Austria and the University of Mainz in Germany before completing postgraduate training at the Free University of Berlin, Germany, and the University of Mainz, where he became Professor of Medicine in 1986. Subsequently, Professor Manns was a Research Associate at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California, USA from 1987 to 1988. Professor Manns has a long-term research interest in liver diseases with a main focus on viral hepatitis, autoimmune liver diseases, hepatocellular carcinoma, liver transplantation and regenerative medicine.

Professor Michael Meyer-Hermann

Department Systems Immunology, Helmholtz-Centre for Infection Research, Braunschweig

Since 2010 Michael Meyer-Hermann heads the Department Systems Immunology at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research in Braunschweig (Germany). He studied Physics, Mathematics, and Philosophy in Frankfurt/Main and Paris and accomplished his Ph.D. in Theoretical Elementary Particle Physics in Frankfurt/Main.
He, then, initiated new research groups for Systems Immunology in Dresden (Germany), Oxford (UK) and at the Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies (FIAS). In addition to developing new methods in Theoretical Cell Biology, his research aims at understanding the adaptive immune system and the interaction of the immune and the nervous system. He wants to establish mathematical methods as state-of-the-art tool in Biology and Immunology to improve research of diseases and therapies.

Professor Albert Osterhaus

Research Center for Emerging Infections and Zoonoses, Tierärztliche Hochschule Hannover

Professor Osterhaus has been Head of the Department of Viroscience at Erasmus MC Rotterdam until July 1st 2014, is currently Professor of Wildlife Virology and Virus Discovery at Utrecht University, and Director of the Center of Infection Medicine and Zoonosis Research and Guest-Professor at the Tieraerztliche Hochschule Hannover. He has a long track record as a scientific researcher and Principal Investigator of numerous major scientific projects.
At Erasmus MC, Professor Osterhaus has run a diagnostic virology lab with more than 40 staff and a research virology lab with over 150 personnel. His research programme follows a novel integrated “viroscience” concept, bringing together world-leading scientists in molecular virology, immunology, epidemiology, pathogenesis, and intervention studies on human and animal virus infections.
Among the major accomplishments are the discovery of more than 40 new viruses of humans and animals (e.g. human metapneumovirus, coronaviruses, influenza viruses), elucidation of the pathogenesis of major human and animal virus infections, and development of novel intervention strategies. This has enabled health authorities like the WHO to effectively combat disease outbreaks like SARS and avian influenza. The spin-off, Viroclinics Biosciences BV, is another societally relevant success, allowing effective testing and refining of diagnostic tools and other intervention strategies.

Professor Charles Rice

Laboratory of Virology and Infectious Disease, The Rockefeller University, New York, USA

Dr. Rice is the Maurice R. and Corinne P. Greenberg Chair in Virology and serves as Head of the Laboratory of Virology and Infectious Disease at Rockefeller University. He is one of the world's most accomplished virologists and a prominent figure in research on members of the Flaviviridae including hepatitis C virus (HCV).
Dr. Rice received his bachelor's degree from University of California Davis in 1974 and earned his Ph.D. from California Institute of Technology in 1981. From 1986-2000, Dr. Rice was a faculty member at Washington University in St. Louis. His research team has helped to understand the biogenesis and structure of HCV-encoded proteins, discovered a highly conserved RNA element at the 3' terminus of HCV genome RNA, and produced the first infectious molecular clone of the virus-an essential tool for future studies on this important human pathogen. His laboratory has recently established efficient cell culture systems for studying HCV replication and evaluating antiviral efficacy.
Dr. Rice has co-authored over 250 articles in the field of virology, serves as a reviewer for numerous journals, and is an editor of Journal of Virology. He is a past President of the American Society for Virology, a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a Member of the National Academy of Sciences.

Professor Helga Rübsamen-Schaeff

AiCuris Anti-Infective Cures GmbH, Wuppertal

Current occupation: Chairperson of the Advisory Board of AiCuris Antiinfective Cures GmbH, Wuppertal
2006-2015: Managing Director (CEO), AiCuris GmbH & Co. KG, Wuppertal
2001-2006: Senior Vice President, head of anti-infective research, Bayer AG, Leverkusen
1994-2001: Vice President, head of institute of virology, Bayer AG, Leverkusen
since 1988: Professor (Biochemistry and Virology), University of Frankfurt/Main
1987-1993: Scientific and Managing Director, Institute for Biomedical Research Georg-Speyer-Haus, Frankfurt/Main
1983 / 1985: Guest scienstist, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
1983 Habilitation, University of Frankfurt/Main
1982-1986: Head of division, Institute for Biomedical Research Georg-Speyer-Haus, Frankfurt/Main
1979-1982: Habilitation scholar (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft), University of Cologne, Paul-Ehrlich Institut Frankfurt/Main
1973-1979: Post-Doc, University of Münster, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA, Gießen

Dr. Emmanuel Saliba

Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Research (HIRI), Würzburg

2017 – present: Group Leader, Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based infection research (HIRI), Würzburg, Germany
2016 – 2017: Assistant Professor (Maître de Conférences), University of Strasbourg, France
2013 – 2016: Postdoc, Institute of Molecular Infection Biology, University of Würzburg, Germany
2009 – 2013: EMBL Interdisciplinary Postdoc fellow, Dpt. Structural and Computational biology and Dpt. Cell Biology and Biophysics, EMBL Heidelberg, Germany
2005 – 2009: PhD, Institut Curie, Dpt. of Physico Chimie Curie, Paris, France

Professor Eike Steinmann

Department for Molecular and Medical Virology, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Bochum

Eike Steinmann, born 1978 in Bremen, studied biology at Leibniz University Hannover, with emphasis on Virology, Microbiology and Molecular Biology. After a DAAD scholarship for study at Northeastern University in Boston, he completed his diploma dissertation under Prof. Herrler at the Institute for Virology of the Veterinary University of Hannover. For his Ph.D. thesis Eike Steinmann changed to the Department for Molecular Virology at the University Clinic of Heidelberg and did research in the group of Prof. Bartenschlager regarding the function of p7 protein in the HCV replication cycle. With his adviser, Prof. Thomas Pietschmann, he then was appointed to TWINCORE. His research is now concentrated on various aspects of the HCV assembly process and its release, as well as a search for new anti-viral targets. Furthermore, he is examining the environmental stability and susceptibility of HCV to disinfection agents. Since April 2018, he is leader of the Department for Molecular and Medical Virology at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum.

Professor Jörg Vogel

Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Research, Würzburg

2017 - present: Acting director, Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Research, Würzburg, Germany
2009 - present: Director and Full Professor, Institute of Molecular Infection Biology, University of Würzburg, Germany
2004 - 2010: Max Planck Research Group Leader, MPI for Infection Biology, Berlin, Germany
2002 - 2003: EMBO Fellow, Hebrew University, Hadassah Medical School, Jerusalem, Israel
2000 - 2001: Postdoc, Department of Cell & Molecular Biology, Uppsala University, Sweden