M. Dandri  - Humanized mice as models to study hepatitis B and D viruses in resting and ...
Channel: Icgeb
Date: 01/03/2023

Maura Dandri, Head of Research Group Virus Hepatitis , Universitätsklinikum Hamburg- Eppendorf Center for Internal Medicine, Hamburg, GERMANY spaeks on "Humanized mice as models to study hepatitis B and D viruses in resting and proliferating hepatocytes".

Maura Dandri is full Professor (W3) at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, in Germany, where she leads the Research Group Viral Hepatitis. She received her B.S. in Natural Science and PhD in Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Trieste, Italy. Her training included a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, where she worked for four years on the woodchuck model of Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) infection within the group of Prof. C.E. Rogler. Together with Prof. Joerg Petersen she also established the first human liver chimeric mouse model of HBV infection. Awarded by a long-term EMBO fellowship, she returned to Europe to perform research at the Heinrich-Pette-Institute of Experimental Virology in Hamburg, Germany.
Since 2009 she is Principal Investigator and head of the Research Group Viral Hepatitis within the Department of Internal Medicine at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, in Hamburg, and was awarded in 2013 by the German Research Foundation with a Heisenberg Professorship. Maura Dandri is since 2019 member of the Executive Board of the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF) and since 2021 of the Governing Board of the International Coalition to Eliminate HBV (ICE-HBV).
Her group has performed pioneering work by developing humanized mouse models for the study of human hepatitis viruses (HBV, HDV, HCV and HEV). Her translational research interest mainly focuses on investigating stability and activity of the HBV genome (cccDNA) in hepatocytes, virus-host interplay and the potential of novel therapeutic strategies, in particular against HBV and HDV. Her lab is also experienced in monitoring viral and host parameters in patient-derived liver biopsy samples.