- Promotor
- Co-promotor
- Date
- Tuesday 10 Sep 2024, 10:30 - 12:00
- Type
- PhD defence
- Space
- Professor Andries Querido room
- Building
- Education Center
- Location
- Erasmus MC
On Tuesday 10 September 2024, P. Ribó Molina will defend the doctoral thesis titled: ‘Novel Infection Models for Metapneumovirus-Host Interactions‘.
Brief summary:
Human metapneumovirus (HMPV) belongs to the Pneumoviridae family together with the Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) and the Avian Metapneumovirus (AMPV)(1). Similarly to RSV, HMPV is an etiological agent of respiratory tract infections (RTI) in humans(2–10). Primarily young children, which are infected at least once by the time they are 5 years old(11–14), the elderly and immunocompromised individuals are most susceptible to severe disease(6, 15–18). Otherwise healthy adults are also susceptible to HMPV infection(6, 18, 19). Currently, emerging HMPV genotypes include lineages A1, A2.1, A2.2.1, A2.2.2, B1, and B2(20), and no effective vaccines or antiviral therapies are licensed. Elucidating the mechanisms of virushost interactions could lead to rational design of intervention strategies, such as vaccines or antivirals. To this end, development of models that resemble the natural host is crucial to study the interaction of viruses with the immune system and the immunometabolic pathways.
- More information
The public defence will begin exactly at 10.30 hrs. The doors will be closed once the public defence starts, latecomers can access the hall via the fourth floor. Due to the solemn nature of the ceremony, children under the age of 6 are not allowed during the first part of the ceremony.