Dr Frauke Mücksch hunts down the HI virus
Virologist Dr Frauke Mücksch is conducting research at Heidelberg University's Center for Integrative Infectious Diseases Research (CIID) into how the HI virus hides in human immune cells and how it can be detected there.
My goal is for people living with HIV not only to reach old age, but to be able to lead lives that are just as healthy as those who have never been infected with HIV.’
Although HIV and AIDS have become less frightening over the past three decades because the infection can be treated effectively with combination therapy, it is still incurable. Around 38 million people worldwide are currently living with the HIV retrovirus. Frauke Mücksch is currently researching how the HI virus hides in the genome of human immune cells. This inactive state is called latency, and the genetic construct is called a provirus. Under certain circumstances, the provirus can be reactivated. How this happens and how this reactivation could be prevented is the subject of Frauke Mücksch's research. To this end, she has established the world's largest cell library for latency research in Heidelberg. Using this resource and modern molecular biology methods such as CRISPR-Cas, she aims to find ways to permanently eliminate or deactivate the HI virus. On 26 September, the virologist received the Aventis Foundation's Life Sciences Bridge Award , worth €100,000, for her innovative research approaches.
Since 2018, the Frankfurt-based Aventis Foundation has been presenting the Life Sciences Bridge Award annually to young scientists who have distinguished themselves through particularly innovative research approaches in the life sciences, with the aim of paving the way for them to obtain a permanent professorship. The award winners themselves receive €10,000 and €90,000 for their own research and teaching.
We warmly congratulate Frauke on this special award and wish her continued success!
Other award winners this year were immunologist Dr Judith Feucht (Tübingen University Hospital) and neurobiologist Dr Varun Venkataramani (Heidelberg University Hospital).
René Lesnik | Coordination Infect-Net
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