Induction and suppression of the inter­feron response by pathogenic RNA viruses

Type I Interferons (IFN-alpha/beta) are cytokines with strong biological effects. They constitute an essential part of the innate immune response and control antiviral, antiproliferative, and immunmodulatory processes. Viruses, in turn, have evolved an astonishing range of strategies to weaken or even shut down this powerful host reponse. The particular focus of my research is on IFN-inducing viral structures, their intracellular sensors, and the viral escape strategies.
Friedemann Weber received his Ph. D. in 1997 from the University of Freiburg and was an EMBO Long Term Postdoctoral Fellow at University of Glasgow, UK. From 2010 to 2015, he was Professor at the Philipps-University Marburg, and from April 2015 on he is the Director of the Institute of Virology at the University of Gießen. He has received several prestigious awards, e.g. from the International Society for Interferon and Cytokine Research (ISICR) or from the „Gesellschaft für Virologie“. He has published over 100 research papers, review articles and book chapters.
Moderation: Professor Dr. Dr. h. c. Thomas C. Mettenleiter