VISION: new DFG Research Training Group for cutting-edge virology research in Northern Germany
Viruses can not only make us humans sick, but in the worst case they can also shake up social and economic structures. The Corona pandemic has clearly demonstrated this lesson to us. For future pandemics, the response time for the development of antiviral drugs and vaccines against viral infections must be improved. This requires optimal training of future virologists. To this end, the German Research Foundation has now approved a new Research Training Group "VISualization and imaging of virus InfectION (VISION)."
The spokesperson is Professor Thomas Krey, head of the Institute of Biochemistry at the University of Lübeck and Associate Member at CSSB, who, together with his co-spokesperson and co-applicant Professor Kay Grünewald, CSSB’s Scientific Director (UHH, LIV), will devote the next few years to training young scientists in state-of-the-art structural analysis and imaging techniques for combating viral infectious diseases. Additional CSSB PIs involved in the project include Jan Kosinski (EMBL), Charlotte Uterecht (Uni Siegen, DESY), Jens Bosse (MHH) and Maya Topf (UKE, LIV) as well as CSSB Associate Member Maria Rosenthal (BNITM).
Serious diseases caused by viruses are a constant threat to society, and the development of efficient antiviral intervention strategies requires an in-depth understanding of the essential processes within the viral life cycle. Basic virological research using imaging and structural analysis techniques provides an important foundation for the development of antiviral interventions and contributes to the understanding of fundamental molecular principles that occur during viral infection. However, recent virological research has shown that understanding needs to be extended, particularly to the mechanistic level, in order to advance the development of effective antiviral drugs and vaccines.
Professor Thomas Krey is spokesperson of the new Research Training Group (RTG) "VISualization and imaging of virus InfectION (VISION)" is pleased about the DFG's approval. Together with co-spokesperson and co-applicant Professor Kay Grünewald and other partners from the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, the "European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL)" Hamburg, the Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine in Hamburg, the Hannover Medical School, Leibniz Institute of Virology and the University of Siegen, new virologists will be trained over the next five years at both sites in Lübeck and Hamburg in order to be better able to meet the aforementioned challenges in combating viruses in the future.
"One strength in the training of young scientists is the large consortium of internationally recognized experts in structural biology and virology within the RTG. This enables us to ensure that doctoral students receive optimal training conditions for viral infection research at the interface between virology and structural biology," explains Professor Krey.
The goal of the RTG "VISION" is to train a new generation of virologists in the application of state-of-the-art structural analysis technologies and imaging techniques, thus establishing an integrative approach to structural virology to better understand the complexity of mechanisms and biology in the course of viral infections. It should be emphasized here that the integration of these techniques into virological research requires specialized training in both structural biology and virology in order to successfully meet the above challenges.
The future PhD students will focus their research primarily on clinically relevant viruses, such as herpes viruses, influenza viruses, noroviruses, hepatitis E and C viruses, polyomaviruses, as well as emerging viruses, and will gain new insights into the interaction of these viruses with host cells and the immune system, which can at the same time serve as starting points for novel antiviral drugs. Therefore, there is great potential in the training program of this GRK to make a significant contribution to virological research.
The Research Training Group "VISION" is one of eleven new Research Training Groups funded by the German Research Foundation with a total of approximately 76 million euros for a period of five years starting in autumn 2023.
Contact for queries:
Prof. Dr. Thomas Krey
Institut für Biochemie
Universität zu Lübeck
Ratzeburger Allee 160
23562 Lübeck
E-Mail: thomas.krey@uni-luebeck.de
Telefon: +49 451 3101 3100
Original German Press Release:
https://www.uni-luebeck.de/forschung/aktuelles-zur-forschung/aktuelles-zur-forschung/artikel/virologieforschung-neues-graduiertenkolleg-vision.html
