LATEST NEWS
What we have been up to recently
Selin joins the VIIRAL lab!
02 April 2024, Munich
Selin is the very first MD doctoral student joining the VIIRAL lab. Welcome to the team! We hope you enjoy your time in our lab.
Hanna-Mari and Joao attend the annual GfV meeting in Vienna
25 – 28 March 2024, Vienna, Austria
This week Hanna-Mari and Joao travelled to Vienna to attend the 33rd Annual Meeting of the Society for Virology. On this occasion they met Luca, who has submitted his thesis to become officially a "Dr." soon. Hanna-Mari will step down from her position as spokesperson of the jGfV in May and already received a farewell gift from her fellow jGfV board members: a personalized 3D SARS-COV-2 virus. Furthermore, Joao won a scholarship to participate in the ACHIEVE ROUND program and annual conference.
Welcome Alin to the VIIRAL lab!
11 March 2024, Munich
Today Alin joins the VIIRAL lab. He will be carrying out a 6 week internship in our lab. We wish you a great time with us!
jGfV Nesletter 1. Issue 2024
4. March 2024
Check out the 1st issue of this year's Junge GfV Newsletter! It features expert advice on how to motivate PhD students as a supervisor. Don't miss out!
Congratulations to Ramya for defending her PhD thesis
01 March 2024, Munich
Today Ramya passed with flying colours and we can finally officially say: Congratulations Dr. Nair! We, at the VIIRAL lab thank you for your tirelessly commitment throughout the years and wish you the best for your future path.
Alejandro attended the Controlled Released Society Meeting 2024
29 February – 01 March 2024, Bad Dürkheim
The German local chapter of the Controlled Released Society met this year in the picturesque locality of Bad Dürkheim, close to Mannheim. Alejandro attended and learnt about other approaches to deliver therapeutic-relevant proteins besides virus like particles.
Hanna-Mari attended the FEMclub workshop
26 February, Munich
The FEMclub workshop was about how to interpret and make use of body language, specifically for women in science and medicine.
Talk by PD Dr. Andrea Thoma-Kreß
22 February 2024, Munich
PD Dr. Andrea Thoma-Kreß visited today the Max von Pettenkofer Institute through Infect-Net. We were delighted with a presentation on a virus that should get more attention: HTLV-1. Did you know that it´s not fully clear yet how human milk mediates new mother-child infections?
Chuyu joins the VIIRAL lab!
19 February 2024
Our second Master Thesis student this February joining the VIIRAL lab. Welcome to you Chuyu as well! We hope you enjoy your time in our lab.
Welcome Inès to the VIIRAL lab!
05 February 2024
Today Inès joins the VIIRAL lab. She will be carrying out an 8 week internship followed by her Master Thesis. We wish you a great time with us!
Celebrating Joao's and Luca's paper
02 February 2024, Munich
Finishing off the week with a small party in the kitchen to celebrate our latest publication:
New position in the VIIRAL lab
12 January 2024
DEADLINE OVER
Looking for a PhD position? Starting today, the VIIRAL lab is looking for a new motivated member. The position is in the field of molecular virology and the application deadline is on the 15th of February 2024, check the pdf for more info!
New publication!
04 January 2024
Congratulations to Luca and Joao for their new publication in Frontiers in Immunology. Go check it out:
Merry Christmas and happy new year
23 December 2023
All of us at the VIIRAL lab would like to wish everyone a very merry Christmas and a happy new year 2024. We are looking forward to a great new year ahead! Until then, cheers to a wonderful relaxing time with family and friends :)
6th issue from the Junge GfV newsletter.
21 December 2023
Check out the 6th issue of this year's Junge GfV Newsletter! It features expert advice on how to navigate the German academic system. Don't miss out!
Christmas party of the Max von Pettenkofer Institute
13 December 2023, Munich
2023 is coming to an end and today we celebrated together at the Christmas party of our institute. To a great 2024 together!
Attending the DoktaMed 2023
09 December 2023, Munich
João and Alejandro visited the Klinikum Groupßhadern to represent the VIIRAL lab and explained to interested Medicine students our work.
Christmas gathering of the MvPI doctoral program
08 December 2023, Munich
Hanna-Mari, João, and Alejandro attended the Christmas gathering of the MvPI doctoral program. Hanna-Mari emphasized the importance of studying the evolution of viral restriction factors, while João and Alejandro contributed with their posters to the scientific exchange.
Retropath conference 2023
04-07 December 2023, Trento, Italy
Hanna-Mari attended the Retropath conference in Italy! She chaired the "innate immunity" session, presented our data concerning GBPs having different antiviral activities and got precious feedback from the colleagues in the field.
i-Target 2.0 biostatistics workshop
29-30 November 2023, Herrsching, Germany
Alejandro attended a biostatistics workshop as part of the i-Target 2.0 graduate student program. It took place in Herrsching am Ammersee, close to our headquarters in Munich.
Guest speaker Stephanie Pfänder
27 November 2023, Munich
Today, Stephanie Pfänder from Ruhr University Bochum visited our institute. She was invited by Hanna-Mari via the infect-net network.
We got a very interesting insight into molecular and clinical intervention strategies against emerging coronaviruses.
Master thesis position open!
14 November 2023, Munich
Open Master thesis position on novel delivery strategies of the lentiviral potein Vpx in the fight against chemotherapy-resistant acute myeloid leukemia malignancies! Check the pdf document for more information!
Welcome to the VIIRAL Lab, Anthony!
13 November 2023, Munich
Today Anthony is joining us for his Virology research practical course. We wish you a lot of fun and best of luck!
5th issue from the Junge GfV newsletter.
06 November 2023
Check out the 5th issue of this year's Junge GfV Newsletter! It features expert advice on how to stay motivated as a researcher. Don't miss out!
Congratulations to our best fall paper awardee from the jGfV Luca!
26 October 2023, Munich
Luca was one of the three awardees by the jGfV for an outstanding paper published this fall. Congratulations!
Happy birthday to Augusto!
26 October 2023, Munich
Today we congratulate Augusto on a very special date. We wish him the best to the start of a new age decade! Alles Gute!
i-Target 2.0 retreat at Fraueninsel
23 October 2023, Chiemsee, Bavaria, Germany
Hanna-Mari and Alejandro spent two days at the scientific retreat of the PhD program "i-Target 2.0 – immunotargeting of cancer". They enjoyed many interesting scientific talks, plus the location was fantastic!
The VIIRAL Lab get-together
14 September 2023, Munich
The very first VIIRAL Lab get-together has taken place! It was great seeing so many former lab members all at once. We enjoyed a fantastic evening playing bowling and then having an Asian hot pot for dinner!
4th issue from the Junge GfV newsletter.
30 August 2023
Check out the 4th issue of this year's Junge GfV Newsletter! It features an interesting article on how to resolve conflicts best. Don't miss out!
Congratulations to Srujita for handing in her Master Thesis!
18 August 2023, Munich
We had a little celebration in our kitchen following Srujita's handing in of her Master thesis. From the Viiral Lab we wish you the best in your next steps as a scientist and in all other aspects of life! It was great having you with us!
Joao and Augusto finished their P3 lab training!
4 August 2023, Munich
Hanna-Mari gave Joao and Augusto green light to work autonomously in our safety level P3 laboratory after many supervised practice sessions.
Guest speaker Dr. Michelle Vincendeau
3 August 2023, Munich
We had the pleasure to hear a very interesting talk about human endogenous retroviruses by Dr. Vincendeau. It turns out, they make out 8 % of the human genome! Hanna-Mari invited her over the infect-net network.
After the talk, PhD and Post-Doc. students had the opportunity to discuss the topic with her in a relaxed atmosphere over a pizza lunch.
Master thesis position open!
2 August 2023, Munich
Open Master thesis position on novel virus-like particle development in the fight against chemotherapy-resistant acute myeloid leukemia malignancies! Start in Fall, application deadline 15.09.2023.
Check the pdf document for further information.
New publication!
26 July 2023, Frontiers in Microbiology
Evolution of primate interferon-induced transmembrane proteins (IFITMs): a story of gain and loss with a differentiation into a canonical cluster and IFITM retrogenes.
Luca Schelle, Joana Abrantes, Hanna-Mari Baldauf, Pedro José Esteves.
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2023.1213685/full
A day to celebrate!
12 July 2023, Munich
The afternoon started with a pre-party to celebrate Luca's first accepted "original article" paper as first author and continued with the institute's summer party .
Welcome Sathya!
6 July 2023, Munich
We're happy to have Sathya from the Kim-Hellmuth lab with us. We hope you have a great time in our lab!
3rd Issue of the Junge GfV Newsletter
3 July 2023, Munich
Check out the 3rd issue of this year's Junge GfV Newsletter! It features an interesting open letter on how to stay sane in an insane world. Don't miss out!
Novel Concepts in Innate Immunity 2023
31 May - 2 June 2023, Tübingen
Luca had the chance to present his project at the NCII2023 conference at the Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen. We would like to thank the graduate school of the MvPI for the travel grant that made this possible!
MvPI graduate school retreat
31 May - 2 June 2023, Austria
Alejandro took part in this year's retreat of the Postgraduate Program “Infection Research on Human Pathogens@MvPI”. The group went to a wonderful alpine hut in Tyrol, Austria. Besides the usual scientific talks, there was also a guided hike to explore the nearby mountains.
Cold Spring Harbor – Retroviruses 2023
22-27 May 2023, Long Island (NY, USA)
Hanna-Mari and João attended the Cold Spring Harbor annual conference on retroviruses. The Viiral Lab got to present new data showing progress towards a humanised rabbit model for HIV research. João's trip overseas was made possible by the travel grant from the graduate school of the MvPI, thanks for that!
Excursion to the LGL of Bavaria
17 May 2023, Munich
Alejandro attended an excursion to the Health and Food Safety Authority of Bavaria (LGL; Bayerisches Landesamt für Gesundheit und Lebensmittelsicherheit) at their facilities in Oberschleißheim, close to Munich. The excursion was part of the Postgraduate Program “Infection Research on Human Pathogens@MvPI”. (Foto: www.lgl.bayern.de)
FEMClub Spring Event
10-12 May 2023, Munich
Hanna-Mari attended the FEMClub Spring event at Leogang organised by Prof. Nathalie Albert (LMU). FEM stands for female excellence in medicine.
The Viiral Lab has a new office!
27 April 2023, Munich
Our former seminar room had to be spontaneously repurposed to office space in March 2020 to ensure proper distancing amid the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic outbreak. Now, with the groups at the Max von Pettenkofer Institute expanding, the room has been remodelled to a permanent office and it looks great!
Symposium on HIV Immunology, Vaccine, and Cure Research
21-22 April 2023, Essen
The Baldauf lab was represented by Hanna-Mari and Luca, who gave talks at this fist symposium organized by the Institute for Translational HIV Research (ITHF) of the University Hospital Essen (UK Essen).
The first F.A.M.E event
20 April 2023, Munich
F.A.M.E. is a newly founded network of female university professors at the LMU Medical Faculty, that fosters female careers and prepares the next generation of female leaders in academic medicine. Hanna-Mari took part in the kick-off event of this promising network. Read more under:
https://www.en.med.uni-muenchen.de/research/funding/fame-english/events/fame_impulse_and_networking/index.html
New publication!
14 April 2023, Analytical Biochemistry
Purified recombinant lentiviral Vpx proteins maintain their SAMHD1 degradation efficiency in resting CD4+ T cells.
​
Ramya Nair, Yanis Pignot, Alejandro Salinas-Illarena, Valentin A Bärreiter, Paul R Wratil, Oliver T Keppler, Christian Wichmann, Hanna-Mari Baldauf.
​
Celebrating Hanna-Mari's birthday and the publication of Ramya's paper
13 April 2023, Munich
The Baldauf lab had a get-together lunch in order to celebrate Hanna-Mari's birthday and the publication of Ramya's paper on recombinant Vpx purification and functional testing on T cells! Check it out in our publication section.
Annual meeting of the Society for Virology
28 – 31 March 2023, Ulm
The Baldauf group attended the annual meeting of the Society for Virology, with João and Luca presenting a poster each. During the meeting, the first jGfV session was held and the 2nd on-site jGfV Board meeting took place. Congratulations to João and Luca for being finalists at the science slam competition of the jGfV! And on top, Hanna-Mari was chairing the plenary session "Exciting discoveries of young virologists".
ViReady workshop of the ACHIEVE program
27 – 28 March 2023, Ulm
A total of 30 participants attended the ViReady workshop of the ACHIEVE program. Among them, Hanna-Mari and our former lab member Yanis. Hanna-Mari even chaired the science communication session with an input talk!
Hanna-Mari and Alejandro attended the Acute Leukemias XVIII conference in Munich
19 – 22 March 2023, Munich
Hanna-Mari attended the event together with Alejandro, who presented a poster on the new developments of our VLP-based strategy to fight against chemotherapy resistance in AML patients.
Ramya successfully submitted her PhD thesis!
17 March 2023, Munich
We want to warmly congratulate Ramya for submitting her PhD thesis. Thanks for bringing cake to celebrate with us! We wish you all the best for your future career and we hope to stay in contact. Good byes are never easy, but we are very happy that you will soon be starting a new chapter in your professional path. You will be missed in the lab!
1st Issue of the Junge GfV Newsletter
27 February 2023
Check out the 1st issue of this year's Junge GfV Newsletter! It features an interview with Dr. Amelie Schoenenwald and expert advice on how to become visible.
Talk by PD Dr. med. Kilian Schober
24 February 2023
This Friday we had the opportunity to hear a presentation by the renown PD Dr. med. Kilian Schober. Our guest speaker gave interesting insights on T cell biology with his talk about "Understanding & engineering antigen-specific T cell immunity."
Alejandro's talk at the 2023 Add-on meeting of the Joachim Herz Stiftung
12 February 2023
Alejandro travelled this past weekend to the Joachim Herz Stiftung's headquarters in Hamburg to meet the other new fellows in the Add-on program. He also had the opportunity to present his project on Vpx-mediated SAMDH1 degradation in front of an interdisciplinary crowd of young scientists.
Welcome Srujita and Philipp!
January 2023
We would like to welcome Srujita, a Human Biology Master's student at LMU, who will be doing her Master thesis with us. And also Philipp, a Biochemistry Master's student, who will be doing a 4-weeks internship at VIIRAL. We hope you both enjoy your stay with us!
Merry Christmas and happy new year
23 December 2022
All of us at the VIIRAL lab would like to wish everyone a very merry Christmas and a happy new year 2023. We are looking forward to a great new year ahead! Until then, cheers to a wonderful relaxing time with family and friends :)
6th Issue of the Junge GfV Newsletter
21 December 2022
Check out the 6th issue of the Junge GfV Newsletter! It features personal experience reports on science communication and expert advice on how to talk about science.
Hanna-Mari's Science Talk at the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg
16 December 2022
Hanna-Mari gave an amazing talk at the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg about one of the VIIRAL groups research interests on species-specific retrovirus-host interactions.
Image: FAU/Kurt Fuchs
MvPI Virology Christmas Party
7 December 2022
We had an amazing time at the annual MvPI Christmas party after a 2-year break with great food, music and conversation! Thank you to Oliver Keppler, the head of the institute, for the treat!
Late Autumn Graduate Day of the Infection Research on Human Pathogens at MvPI program
5-6 December 2022
The Infection Research on Human Pathogens at MvPI graduate program organised a 2-day Graduate day filled with great scientific and career talks, poster presentations and insightful discussions. Our members Ramya and Luca presented their work, and João gave an introductory presentation after being accepted into the program.
New publication!
12 November 2022
Variable detection of Omicron-BA. 1 and - BA.2 by SARS-CoV-2 rapid antigen tests
Osterman A, Badell I, Dächert C, Schneider N, Kaufmann AY, Öztan GN, Huber M, Späth PM, Stem M., Autenrieth H, Muenchhoff M, Graf A, Krebs S, Blum H, Gibere L, Dumner 1, Kaderalit, Baldauf HM., Keppler OT. (2022)
Robert Koch Awardee Laureats 2022
10 November 2022
Hanna-Mari attended the Alumni Symposium of the Robert Koch Postdoc Prize awardees and the Robert Koch foundation prize award ceremony in Berlin. It was a great pleasure to listen also to this year's award winners Prof. Dr. Philipp Felgner and Prof. Dr. Drew Weissman and lifetime medal recipient Prof. Dr. Jörg Hacker. We would also like to congratulate this year's Postdoc prize awardees Moritz Gaidt, Anna Both and Robin Wratil from our neighbouring Keppler lab.
Welcome Deniz!
07 November 2022
We would like to welcome Deniz, a Molecular and Cellular Biology Master's student at LMU, who will be doing a 2-month internship with us. We hope you enjoy your internship!
Lab excursion to Kloster Andechs
28 October 2022
After a 2 year break due to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, AG Baldauf relaunched its yearly social event. This time we opted for the renown hike towards Kloster Andechs starting at Ammersee lake. Hanna-Mari kindly invited us to some beers and Bavarian specialties at the top and we enjoyed multiple fun card games until sunset. Looking forward to next year's event!
5th Issue of the Junge GfV Newsletter
October 2022
Check out the 4th issue of the Junge GfV Newsletter 2022! It features expert advices on how to increase resilience and an interview with the freelancer writer Dr. Sofia Urner.
Photo shooting at AG Baldauf
20 October 2022
The time to renew the professional pictures of the lab members finally came around! We made sure to recreate some daily activities while the photographer caught our best angle. It sure was a lot of fun!
Career event evening at the Bertolt-Brecht Gymnasium
20 October 2022
Hanna-Mari was cordially invited to the career event evening at the Bertolt-Brecht Gymnasium to shed light on the daily tasks of a researcher and inspire young female students to pursue a career in science.
Last i-Target retreat at the Fraueninsel, Chiemsee
10-11 October 2022
Hanna-Mari and Ramya had the great opportunity to join the final retreat of the graduate program i-Target, held at the Fraueninsel at Chiemsee, a beautiful lake in Bavaria. Ramya also gave a presentation on parts of her work and they both had a wonderful time networking with young and senior scientists from the program.
New funding by the Joachim Herz Stiftung for the project of Alejandro
7 October 2022
Congratulations to Alejandro for securing new funding from the Joachim Herz Stiftung called "Add-on Fellowship for Interdisciplinary Life Science"!
Pettenkofer Price at the New City Hall, Munich Marienplatz
6 October 2022
We recently celebrated the achievements of Prof. Cynthia Sharma and Prof. Chase Beisel, who won this years Pettenkofer Price for their work on "Innovative methods for the diagnosis of viral infections". The prestigious award ceremony took place at the new City Hall at the heart of Munich, Marienplatz.
Young PI Virology Faculty Kick-off meeting
28-29 September 2022
Hanna-Mari was the organiser of the Young PI Virology Faculty kick-off meeting which took place in Witten this year. She remains the spokesperson of the jGfV society, which is now officially part of the Society for Virologists (GfV), for one more year.
Hanna-Mari's Science Talk at the Ruhr Universität Bochum
28 September 2022
Hanna-Mari gave an amazing talk at the Ruhr Universität Bochum about one of the VIIRAL groups research interests on species-specific retrovirus-host interactions.
Ramya's poster presentation at the 9th ImmunoTargeting Of Cancer (ITOC9)
22-24 September 2022
Ramya presented a poster of parts of her work at the 9th annual Immunotargeting of cancer (ITOC) conference, which was held here in Munich at the University Hospital.
21st Workshop "Immunobiology of Viral Infections", Bad Salzschlirf
21-23 September 2022
The 21st workshop of the GfV society on Immunobiology of viral infections took place at beautiful Bad Salzschlirf this year and João and Luca gave great presentations on their work! Hanna-Mari did an amazing job co-organizing this workshop this year and she has now handed over the duty to her successors.
1 year since our Website went live!
9 September 2022
Its been a year since our website went live! Since then, we have received many requests for internship positions and grown our lab!
Congratulations Caroline!
5 September 2022
We would like to congratulate our former Master's student Caroline for successfully completing her Master's thesis with flying colours. All the best for your future endeavours!
4th Issue of the Junge GfV Newsletter
26 August 2022
Check out the 4th newsletter issue of the Junge GfV group, featuring the segment "How to network", an interview with Dr. Sarah Schmidt, and for some news on the upcoming events and conferences in virology!
Welcome Yanis!
18 July 2022
We would like to welcome Yanis, a Biochemistry Master's student at LMU, who will be doing a 5-month internship with us. We hope you enjoy your internship!
Congratulations Luca and Ramya!
July 2022
We are very proud of Luca and Ramya for getting awarded the 1st jGfV lab rotation scholarship (Luca) and 3rd place for the 3-Minute Thesis competition at the LMB-MPIB Graduate Life Sciences Symposium (Ramya). Great job!
International Food Fest at the VIIRAL Lab
30 June 2022
It was the perfect time of the year for our International Food Fest, where each one of our international team brought delicacies from their home country or culture. The picture doesn't do justice to the amount of amazing food we had on that day :D This will continue to be a tradition in our lab!
VIIRAL lab lunch @ Codo Bistro
14 June 2022
Hanna-Mari generously treated the whole VIIRAL lab to a belated birthday lunch at our favorite Vietnamese restaurant, Codo Bistro :) It was a nice sunny break from lab work with great conversations and yummy food!
Visit from Joana & Pedro from CIBIO InBIO, Porto, Portugal
08-10 June 2022
We had the pleasure to welcome and host our long-standing collaborator from Porto, Portugal, Joana & Pedro! We had some wonderful discussions and conversation and of course, beer :) We hope to welcome you back soon!
Lunch at the Max von Pettenkofer Institute by Prof. Oliver Keppler
08 June 2022
The head of our institute Prof. Oliver Keppler treated the Virology and diagnostics department to a special lunch catered by Käfer Feinkost! It was also a great opportunity to catch up with our institute colleagues from the Munich inner-city site.
Welcome Lea!
01 June 2022
We would like to welcome Lea, a Biochemistry Master's student at LMU, who will be doing a 4-week internship with us. We hope you enjoy your internship!
Welcome Liying!
01 June 2022
We would like to welcome Liying, a Molecular and Cellular Biology Master's student at LMU, who will be doing an 8-week internship with us. We hope you enjoy your internship!
3rd Issue of the Junge GfV Newsletter
01 June 2022
Check out the 3rd newsletter issue of the Junge GfV group, featuring the segment "How to supervise", an interview with Dr. Joao Duarte, and for some news on the upcoming events and conferences in virology!
Cold Spring Harbor Retroviruses Meeting (Hybrid)
23 - 28 May 2022
The 47th annual Cold Spring Harbor Retrovirus meeting was held in New York, in a hybrid format. Luca and João took part in this event and Luca had presented a poster on his work.
Clinical Visit at the LMU University Hospital
04 May 2022
Ramya had the pleasure to attend a clinical visit workshop at the LMU University Hospital, as part of the i-Target graduate program. She got to experience how CAR-T cells are prepared for treatment (as shown in the image).
2nd Issue of the Junge GfV Newsletter
03 May 202
Check out the 2nd newsletter issue of the Junge GfV group, featuring the segment "How to network", an interview with Prof. Dr. Harald zur Hausen, and for some news on the upcoming events and conferences in virology!
Presentation by Luca Schelle at the 31st Annual GfV Meeting!
30 March - 02 April 2022
Congratulations to Luca on giving an amazing talk at the annual meeting of the Society of Virology, which was held in a hybrid form in Munich. Hanna-Mari, the spokesperson of the Junge GfV, also addressed the participants and gave insights into the upcoming events of the Junge GfV.
31st Annual GfV Meeting
30 March - 02 April 2022
After 2 years of online meetings and conferences, the 31st annual meeting of the Society for Virology is finally taking place in a hybrid format, with in-person meetings in Munich, Germany! We are very excited about the amazing talks and posters which will be presented!
Bavarian Order of Merit awarded to Prof. Oliver Keppler!
14 March, 2022
Congratulations to Prof. Oliver Keppler, head of the virology department at the Max von Pettenkofer Institute, for receiving the prestigious Bavarian Order of Merit for his outstanding contributions against the spread of SARS-CoV-2!
