Systems Arbovirology

The junior research group Systems Biology of Arboviruses led by Dr. Pietro Scaturro investigates how pathogenic arboviruses manipulate their hosts and exploit them for their own benefit. Given their widespread distribution and the lack of broad-spectrum antiviral drugs for prophylactic or therapeutic use, arboviruses pose a global public health challenge and are a major cause of mortality worldwide.

The main goal of the junior research group is to better understand the complex interplay between different arboviruses and their mammalian and arthropod hosts, but also to be able to map the biological processes of arboviruses and identify new sub- and pan-arboviral targets for therapeutic approaches. To this end, they use state-of-the-art methods based on bottom-up mass spectrometry, high-resolution imaging techniques and molecular virology approaches.