Agenda

Alex Evilevitch is a professor at the Faculty of Medicine, Lund University, and an internationally renowned researcher with a distinguished background in interdisciplinary research at the intersection of biophysics, virology, and physical chemistry. He earned his PhD in Physical Chemistry from Lund University in 2001 and pursued a STINT postdoctoral fellowship at UCLA between 2002 and 2003. His academic journey includes tenured faculty appointments at Lund University (Sweden), Carnegie Mellon University (USA), and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (USA). Evilevitch's work has significantly advanced the understanding of viral genome packaging and infectivity, with a particular focus on the physical interactions governing the viral infectious cycle. His lab explores the physico-chemical mechanisms of viral capsid assembly, DNA packaging and ejection, and host-virus interactions using cutting-edge biophysical techniques, including Cryo-EM, BioAFM, and small-angle scattering. His translational research addresses key challenges in herpes virology and gene therapy, leading to the development of non-resistance-based antiviral therapies and improved AAV vector production methods. Evilevitch holds U.S. patents for groundbreaking antiviral strategies that avoid the development of drug resistance by targeting the pressurized DNA state of herpesviruses. He is also developing scalable solutions for recombinant AAV production, enhancing packaging capacity and purity for gene therapy applications. Evilevitch has received numerous international awards, including the Hebert Newby McCoy Award for the most important contribution in the field of chemistry at UCLA and the Hagberg Prize in Biochemistry from the Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences.

Dr. Alexander Hahn completed his studies in Molecular Medicine and earned his PhD at the University of Erlangen under the joint supervision of Dr. Bernhard Fleckenstein and Dr. Frank Neipel. His doctoral research focused on Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV), during which he identified a key KSHV entry receptor and contributed to studies on oncogenesis and evasion of innate immunity. Following his doctoral studies, and supported by a DFG fellowship, Dr. Hahn pursued postdoctoral research under Dr. Ron Desrosiers, initially at Harvard Medical School's New England Primate Center and later at the University of Miami's Miller School of Medicine. His work centered on rhesus monkey rhadinovirus (RRV) as a model for KSHV, with a particular focus on glycoproteins and viral entry. Upon returning to Erlangen, he briefly worked with Dr. Armin Ensser, investigating the interactions between RRV tegument proteins and innate immune mechanisms. Dr. Hahn later established his own research group at the German Primate Center in Göttingen, where his team conducted comparative studies on KSHV and RRV, focusing on receptor usage, entry mechanisms, host restriction, and tissue tropism in vitro and in vivo. He has since joined GSK where he contributes to medical education in the therapeutic area vaccines. He continues to be actively involved in academic research at the University of Erlangen. His ongoing work explores the mechanistic aspects of KSHV entry and fusion, as well as their implications for vaccine development.

Jin-Hyun Ahn received his B.S. and M.S. in Microbiology at the Department of Microbiology of Seoul National University in Seoul, South Korea. He earned his Ph.D. in Microbial Genetics in the same Department. He completed his postdoc training at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in the laboratory of Gary S. Hayward. After that, he joined the faculty at the Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine in Suwon, South Korea, where he is now a Professor in the Department of Microbiology and serves as Director of the Institute of Basic Medicine. His research explores the molecular interactions between herpesviruses and their hosts, focusing on how viral gene products influence host intrinsic defense and innate immune responses. He also studies the viral regulation of the cellular ubiquitin and ubiquitin-like modification systems and the functions of G-quadruplexes formed in the herpesvirus genomes. He served as President of the Korean Society of Virology.

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Prof. Martine Smit is heading the Receptor Biochemistry and Signalling group in the department of Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Her research focuses on key pharmacological properties of human and viral G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) (e.g. constitutive activity, endosomal signaling, dimerisation, EV biology) to elucidate the (oncogenic) signaling networks activated by these human and viral chemokine receptors. Nanobodies, llama-derived single domain antibody fragments, are used to target, unravel and modulate human and viral chemokine receptor function.

Louis Flamand started his graduate studies (MSc) in virology by studying HIV-1 vaccine development. For his PhD, he switched his interest to the study of human herpesviruses and started working on the biology of HHV-6. He obtained his PhD from the University of Montreal in 1994. He then continued to expand is knowledge on HHV-6 by joining the laboratory of Robert Gallo at the National Institutes of Health, where HHV-6A was first isolated. In 1997, he was recruited as assistant professor by the Faculty of medicine at Université Laval in Quebec City. He is full professor and chair of the department of microbiology, infectious diseases and immunology. He is member of the HHV-6 Foundation scientific advisory board since 2006 and was conference co-chair for the 7th, 9th and 11th international conferences on HHV-6 and HHV-7. For more than 20 years, his interests lie in identifying the mechanisms and viral/cellular factors underlying HHV-6 integration. With the successful development of a cell culture model study HHV-6 integration, his team is currently studying the viral and cellular proteins that play a role in the HHV-6 integration process as well as to determine the biological consequences associated with inherited-chromosomally-integrated HHV-6.

Derek Walsh is a professor in the Department of Microbiology-Immunology at Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine in downtown Chicago. He received his PhD in cancer cell biology from Dublin City University, Ireland in 2000. His postdoctoral training focused on translational control during herpesvirus infection under the supervision of Dr. Ian Mohr at NYU School of Medicine, New York. Derek established his first independent lab back at Dublin City University, Ireland in 2006 but after the financial crash of 2010, he returned to Dr. Ian Mohr’s lab to restart his career. Despite Hurricane Sandy destroying the lab in 2012, Derek is as persistent as a herpesvirus infection itself and went on to become a faculty member at Northwestern University in 2014. The Walsh lab focuses on mechanisms of translational control and innate immune evasion during poxvirus infection, as well as cytoskeletal regulation and mechanotransduction during herpesvirus infection.

Anne Halenius is a research associate at the Institute of Virology, University of Freiburg, Germany. She studied Biochemistry at Åbo Akademi University (Finland) and the University of Bayreuth (Germany), completing her Master’s thesis in Prof. Veijo Hukkanen’s lab at the University of Turku (Finland). Focusing on HCMV immune evasion, she earned her PhD in 2005 at the Robert Koch Institute in Berlin, supervised by Prof. Hartmut Hengel. She then continued her research as a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute of Virology at the Heinrich-Heine University in Düsseldorf, before moving to Freiburg in 2013. Her research aims to uncover the molecular mechanisms by which HCMV manipulates HLA class I and associated ligandomes to escape recognition by CD8+ T cells.

Hongyan Guo, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at LSU Health Shreveport. She received her Ph.D. from Nankai University in China. During her postdoctoral training, she worked with Dr. Edward Mocarski and Dr. William Kaiser, gaining expertise in herpesvirus research with an emphasis on uncovering cell death pathways that contribute to innate host defense. She further trained in Dr. Richard Dix’s lab, where she studied the pathogenesis of retinal and neurological diseases with herpesvirus infection. The Guo lab continues these investigations, focusing on how herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) activates and manipulates host cell death pathways to better understand their role in viral pathogenesis and develop potential therapeutic strategies.

Søren Riis Paludan is a professor at Aarhus University, Denmark, where he is director for the Center of Immunology of Viral infections. His research is focused on understanding how the innate immune system is activated and regulated during HSV infections, and how immunological activities can contribute to both defense and disease development focusing on the CNS.

Mariapia Degli-Esposti is an immunologist and leading expert in viral immunity. She is a Fellow of both the Australian Academy of Science and the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences. Mariapia is a Professor at Monash University (Australia) and the Head of Experimental and Viral Immunology within the Infection and Immunity Program at the Biomedicine Discovery Institute and the Department of Microbiology. She also holds a research appointment at the Lions Eye Institute in Western Australia. Mariapia’s laboratory studies viruses that cause lifelong infections as a way to unravel the pathways, interactions, and molecular mechanisms that determine the efficacy of immune responses. Her work has uncovered critical immunological pathways that shape immune efficacy and determine the outcomes of viral infection, including complications in autoimmunity and transplantation.

Hannes Vietzen, PhD, is a virologist specializing in the immunology and host-microbe interactions of herpesviruses. He holds advanced degrees in Biological Sciences and Microbiology from the University of Constance and the University of Vienna. His doctoral research, conducted under the mentorship of Prof. Dr. Elisabeth Puchhammer-Stöckl at the Medical University of Vienna, focused on the immunobiology of the human cytomegalovirus in transplant recipients. Currently, Hannes Vietzen is a junior principal investigator at the Center for Virology, Medical University of Vienna, and a research fellow at the Institute of Experimental Immunology, University of Zurich. His research portfolio spans transplant virology, host-pathogen dynamics, and the intricacies of herpesvirus-specific immune responses. He has contributed to the understanding of herpesvirus-specific T-cells, NK cells, and antibody-mediated immunity, aiming to identify protective immune mechanisms. Recently, his work has delved into the role of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) in the pathogenesis of demyelinating diseases, including multiple sclerosis. He has published extensively in leading journals such as Cell and The New England Journal of Medicine. The importance of his research was recognized by various awards. Hannes Vietzen’s accolades include the Austrian Microbiology Prize and the Austrotransplant Award. He is also a dedicated academic mentor, guiding graduate students, delivering virology seminars, and has experience in organizing international scientific conferences. Beyond his research and teaching, Hannes Vietzen serves as a peer reviewer for prestigious journals. He is an active member of leading virology and clinical research organizations, demonstrating his ongoing commitment to advancing knowledge in viral infections in transplantation and autoimmunity.

Dr. Rona Scott is a Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology and Director of the Bioinformatics and Modeling Core in the Center for Applied Immunology and Pathological Processes at Louisiana State University Health Shreveport. Dr. Scott earned a B.S. in Biochemistry from Penn State University and Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. As a post-doctoral fellow with Dr. Glenn Matsushima at the University of North Carolina, she discovered that the Mer tyrosine kinase is required for efferocytosis. She then relocated to Louisiana State University Health Shreveport to complete further post-doctoral studies with Dr. John Sixbey, focusing on the oncogenic mechanisms of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection. In 2009, she established her own laboratory with the goal of understanding the epigenetic consequences of EBV epithelial infection and investigating how interactions between EBV and human papillomavirus can drive the progression of oral squamous cell carcinoma.

Florian Erhard studied Bioinformatics at Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich (LMU) and Technical University Munich (TUM). He reveived his PhD from LMU in 2014 for his work on "Algorithmic Methods for Systems Biology of Herpes-Viral microRNAs". Following a brief postdoctoral phase at LMU, where he developed new computational methods to investigate the HSV-1 translatome, he joined the University of Würzburg as a Junior Professor in 2016. In 2023, he was appointed full professor and chair of Computational Immunology at the Faculty of Informatics and Data Science, University of Regensburg. His research focuses on developing computational methods to study RNA biology in herpesvirus infections, with an emphasis on the dynamics of gene regulation and intercellular heterogeneity during the early stages of infection.

Ingrid Kockum is a professor of genetic epidemiology at Karolinska Institutet is the author of more than 300 original research papers and her research is focused on multiple sclerosis (MS) and include: - study of the role of viral infections in MS including investigating molecular mimicry - identification of novel genetic susceptibility variants for MS - identification of genetic control of severity/progression of MS - identification of interactions between genetic and lifestyle/environmental risk factors for MS - identification of novel protein biomarkers for MS - precision medicine for multiple sclerosis including modeling of MS risk and prognosis of MS Ingrid is coordinating a horizon Europe project, WISDOM (https://wisdomhorizon.eu/), focusing on developing tools for predicting disease and disease severity. She is also involved in the horizon Europe EBV-MS project (https://www.uib.no/en/ebvms) which is investigating role of EBV in onset and progression of MS. Ingrid is vice-chair Nordic society for human genetics and precision medicine and Director of Doctoral studies at Department of Clinical Neurosciences at Karolinska Institutet.

Donna Neumann is an Associate Professor in the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where she is also a member of the McPherson Eye Institute and the Carbone Cancer Center. She received her PhD in Organic Chemistry from the University of New Orleans working on the synthesis of novel histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors and performed her postdoctoral work on HSV-1 latency in the laboratory of the late Professor James Hill at the LSU Health Sciences Center in New Orleans. In the Hill lab, Dr. Neumann defined mechanisms of HSV-1 ocular pathogenesis in vivo using both mouse and rabbit models of latency and reactivation. Leveraging her knowledge of HDAC inhibitors from her graduate work, Dr. Neumann, while still a postdoc, became one of the early pioneers defining the chromatin control of reactivating HSV-1 genomes in vivo, a project for which she was awarded a competitive NIH fellowship. Her successes in helping establish this burgeoning field allowed her to establish an independent laboratory at the LSU Health Sciences Center in New Orleans in 2009 before being recruited to the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2019. The Neumann lab continues to define the epigenetic and three-dimensional structure of latent HSV-1 genomes in vivo (and more recently in vitro), and how that structure controls latency establishment, maintenance, and reactivation using a mixture of molecular, genetic, and next-generation approaches. Dr. Neumann is on the editorial boards of the Journal of Virology, Viruses, and Microbiology Spectrum, and is an Academic Editor at PLoS Pathogens.

My interest in viruses started with my PhD at Cambridge University, UK, where I studied the Influenza A virus polymerase (with Paul Digard). After a first PDRA position at St George’s Hospital Medical School researching innate immune evasion of paramyxoviruses (with Steve Goodbourn), I returned to Cambridge University, Department of Medicine. My initial herpevirus interest was with human cytomegalovirus protein UL144. I analysed the possibility of UL144 having TNF-receptor properties with John Sinclair and Antonio Alcami. We found that while UL144 did not directly bind TNF, it did modulate signaling. I then moved to working on HCMV latency with John Sinclair and Mark Wills over three successive UK Medical Research Council programme grants. During that time, we identified numerous viral and cellular changes that occur in the latently infected cell using cell lines, primary cells and naturally latent cell systems and, over the course of those grants, I became a Senior Research Associate and then an Associate PI. In 2023, I became an Associate Professor in an independent lectureship position in the Department of Pathology at Cambridge University. My group continues to analyse the molecular mechanisms of HCMV latency (in collaboration with Mark Wills and Matthew Reeves) as well as using the knowledge gained from our own laboratory and others over 20+ years to investigate the possibility of targeting the latent phase of HCMV therapeutically. These include ‘shock and kill’ as well as ‘lock and block’ strategies (in collaboration with Michael Nevels) and direct targeting of viral proteins, such as US28 (in collaboration with John Sinclair, Thomas Kledal and Martine Smit). We are also looking to understand HCMV in ‘at risk’ patient cohort settings such as kidney transplants (in collaboration with Sarah Hosgood and Michael Nicolson) and placental infection (with Naomi McGovern).

Orkide Koyuncu is an Assistant Professor at the University of California, Irvine. She completed her doctoral research under the mentorship of Prof. Thomas Dobner in Hamburg, Germany. Dr. Koyuncu then joined Prof. Lynn Enquist’s laboratory at Princeton University as a postdoctoral researcher, where she investigated alpha herpesvirus infections. Her research focused on the molecular dynamics of viral invasion in peripheral nervous system neurons, employing a compartmented primary neuron culture system with pseudorabies virus (PRV) and herpes simplex virus-1 (HSV-1). Dr. Koyuncu's lab continues to explore alpha herpesvirus-neuron interactions, with a particular focus on the epithelia-nervous system barrier, axon-to-soma signaling, and the long-distance transport of viral particles. These processes are critical in determining the establishment of productive versus latent infections in the nervous system.

Micah Luftig, Ph.D., is a Professor and Vice Chair of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology at Duke University School of Medicine. He has been studying herpesviruses for nearly thirty years. He earned his B.S. in Microbiology from Louisiana State University, where he studied KSHV glycoproteins under Dr. Gus Kousoulas, followed by a fellowship at the CDC with Dr. Phil Pellet. He obtained his Ph.D. in Virology from Harvard Medical School under Dr. Elliott Kieff, studying Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) oncogenesis. After postdoctoral research in structural virology with Dr. Andrea Carfi at IRBM in Italy, he joined Duke as an Assistant Professor in 2007, where his lab focuses on EBV-driven B-cell transformation, virus-host interactions, and mechanisms of lymphomagenesis. The lab uses cutting-edge, cross-disciplinary and highly collaborative approaches to characterize the temporal dynamics and single cell heterogeneity of EBV infection. The goals of the lab include discovering fundamental molecular circuits underlying transcriptional control, viral manipulation of host signaling pathways, and metabolic regulation that collectively influence infected cell fate decisions. By understanding the nature of viral control of infected host cells, the Luftig lab is well positioned to discover vulnerabilities in EBV-associated diseases to characterize new therapeutic interventions in cell-based and pre-clinical animal models.

Keith Jarosinski is an Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Pathobiology at the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine in Urbana-Champaign, Illinois. He received his BS at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) in Biotechnology and his PhD at the State University of New York (SUNY) Heath Science Center in Syracuse, NY (now SUNY Upstate Medical University) in Microbiology. He began his post-doctoral studies in the lab of Dr. Karel (Ton) A. Schat at Cornell University, where he studied innate immune responses to Marek’s disease herpesvirus (MDV) in chickens. There, he also worked with Dr. Nikolaus Osterrieder, studying herpesvirus-induced pathogenesis and cancer, and was promoted from Research Associate to non-tenure track faculty Senior Research Associate in 2008. In 2011, Dr. Jarosinski moved to the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine in the Department of Microbiology as a Research Assistant Professor, focusing his research on the host-to-host spread of herpesviruses using natural avian model systems. In 2016, he moved to the University of Illinois as an Assistant Professor and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2021. He has been consistently funded through the USDA-NIFA since 2009, including a Dual Purpose with Dual Benefit NIH/USDA-NIFA grant to use avian herpesviruses as models to study human herpesviruses.

Dr. Ke Lan received a BS and an MS from Chongqing Medical University in 1994 and 1998, respectively. He obtained his PhD from Central South University Xiangya Medical School in 2001 and received postdoctoral training from 2002 to 2006 at University of Pennsylvania Medical School. Dr. Lan has long standing interest in study of viral infection and pathogensis (oncogenic herpesviruses and emerging viruses). He has published more than 150 papers on leading journals such as Nature, N Eng J Med, Sci Transl Med, PNAS, Cell Host & Microbe, J Virol, PLoS Pathog, Sci Adv, Mol Cell etc. His group is one of the first groups to identify SARS-CoV-2. He has served as the member of editorial board of J Virol, Viruses, associate editor of J Med Virol, Virol Sin, and executive editor of Cell Insight. Currently, he is the director of the State Key Laboratory of Virology and the director of the Animal Biosafety Level 3 Laboratory/Animal Experiment Center of Wuhan University.