“German Research Foundation approves new virus research training group: VISION”

2023-05-12 09:30:00

Lübeck: Not only can viruses make us sick, they can also, in the worst case, shake social and economic structures. The corona pandemic has made this lesson clear to us. In particular, the response time for the development of antiviral drugs and vaccines against viral infections must be improved for future pandemics. This requires optimal training for future virologists.

For this purpose, the German Research Foundation has now approved a new research training group “VISualization and imaging of virus InfectION (VISION)”. The speaker is Professor Thomas Krey, head of the Institute of Biochemistry at the University of Lübeck, who, together with his co-speaker and co-applicant Professor Kay Grünewald from the University of Hamburg, will be involved in the training of young scientists in the most modern structural analysis and imaging methods over the next few years combating viral infectious diseases.

Serious diseases caused by viruses pose a constant threat to society, and the development of efficient antiviral intervention strategies requires a thorough understanding of the essential processes within the viral life cycle. Basic virological research with imaging and structural analysis methods represents an important basis for the development of antiviral measures and contributes to the understanding of basic molecular principles that take place during a virus infection. However, recent virological research has shown that understanding needs to be extended, particularly to the mechanistic level, to advance the development of effective antiviral drugs and vaccines.

Professor Thomas Krey, head of the Institute of Biochemistry at the University of Lübeck and speaker of the new research training group (GRK) “VISualization and imaging of virus InfectION (VISION)” is pleased about the approval of the DFG. Together with co-speaker and co-applicant Professor Kay Grünewald from the Institute of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Hamburg 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 Hanover Medical School and the University of Siegen, new virologists will be trained at both Lübeck and Hamburg locations over the next five years in order to be able to better deal with the challenges mentioned in combating the virus in the future.

“A strength in the training of young scientists is the large consortium of internationally recognized experts in structural biology and virology within the GRK. In this way, we can ensure that doctoral students receive optimal training conditions for viral infection research at the interface between virology and structural biology,” explains Professor Krey.

The aim of the GRK “VISION” is to train a new generation of virologists in the application of the latest structural analysis technologies and imaging methods and thus to establish an integrative approach to structural virology in order to understand the complexity of the mechanisms and biology over the course of better understand viral infections. It should be emphasized that the integration of these techniques into virological research requires specific training in both structural biology and virology in order to successfully meet the above challenges. The University of Lübeck can draw on its special expertise in structural virological and molecular virological issues, such as in X-ray crystallography or nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR).

In their research, the future doctoral students will focus primarily on clinically relevant viruses such as herpes viruses, influenza viruses, noroviruses, hepatitis E and C viruses, polyoma viruses and emerging viruses, and will thereby gain new insights into the interaction of these viruses with Host cells and the immune system, which can also 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 “VISION” graduate college is one of eleven new graduate colleges that will be funded by the German Research Foundation with a total of around 76 million euros for a period of five years from autumn 2023.

The German Research Foundation has approved a new research training group “VISualization and imaging of virus InfectION (VISION)”. Photo: Uni/Paulista/Adobe Stock

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Text number: 158610 Author: Universität/red. from 12.05.2023 at 9.30 a.m