Research themes

Viruses and immune system are in constant interaction, resulting in either elimination of a virus, viral persistence or development of an infectious disease. Our group is studying several aspects of this dynamic relation, particularly innate immune response and mechanisms of viral evasion from the immune control and analysis of novel anti-viral approaches.

General Interest:

• – Study of innate immune response and immuno-neuro-pathogenesis of measles virus infection, and development of fusion inhibitory peptides to block viral entry and treat measles infection;
• – Immunopathogenesis of emergent highly lethal Nipah virus: analysis of the innate anti-viral response in the murine model and in fruit bats, natural reservoir of the virus;
• – Analysis of the mechanisms of neuroinflammation induced by human herpesvirus 6 infection.

Figure 1: Experimental approaches used to analyze anti-viral innate immune response in murine and fruit bat models.