Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics

Overall, my group is interested in understanding how information (genetic, biochemical) can be transmitted from cell to cell and how such information flow determines the fate of cells, tissues, and ultimately organisms. Recently, we have become particularly interested in the phenomenon that merging of cells (i.e. cell-cell fusion) can result in altered cell states.

The main object of our studies is the retrovirus HIV-1, though we also support investigations by colleagues who study other viruses or extracellular vesicles that serve as information carriers. Importantly, in all our projects we collaborate more or less extensively with other scientists, both on campus and at other institutions, thus forming transient alliances to tackle emerging questions.

While we use various virological and cell biological techniques for our investigations, particular emphasis is being placed on applying quantitative imaging methods. These include restoration fluorescence microscopy and super resolution microscopy for analyses of subcellular events and light sheet microscopy for analyses at the cell population level (with single cell resolution). Using such methods, we recently found that HIV-induced small T lymphocyte syncytia are a subpopulation of infected cells that have distinct surface protein profiles as well as migratory properties that distinguish them from infected mononucleated T cells. A major thrust of our current work thus aims at understanding what role this subpopulation of HIV-1-infected cells plays in virus spread.