We are very pleased to welcome Dr. Nora Schmidt as our new RESIST member. The junior research group leader at the MHH Institute of Virology is focusing her research within the RESIST framework on RSV and HSV-1 infections. In particular, she is deciphering the role played by the interactions between RNA and proteins during disease mechanisms and defence processes.

‘We are working to identify RNA-binding protein candidates and elucidate their mechanistic function in the modulation of viral or host RNAs during the viral life cycle and the interferon response,’ she describes. To do this, she is using advanced sequencing techniques as well as cell-based virological and biochemical assays. She will integrate information on genetic variants from the RESIST cohorts, for example from the RSV cohort IRIS and from the atopic dermatitis (HSV/AD) cohort. ‘In this way, we will contribute to a better understanding of disease processes and the susceptibility of patients at risk of severe viral disease,’ she says.

She studied technical biology at the University of Stuttgart and completed her doctorate at the Institute of Medical Virology at the University of Zurich. From 2020 to 2024, she worked as a postdoc at the Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Research in Würzburg. Since June 2024, she has been a junior research group leader at the MHH Institute of Virology. More information about Dr. Nora Schmidt can be found here.