After her 3 year research training in the group of Prof. S. Ross, at the Pennsylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia, Bernadette obtained her PhD at the dept. of Viroscience, ErasmusMC Introduction on "the Discovery and Characterization of the Human Metapneumovirus (HMPV)". Since then, Bernadette has been investigating all aspects of the interaction between HMPV and the human immune system. She has contributed to the development of a reverse genetics system for HMPV, designed and evaluated several vaccine candidates, and identified Favipiravir (T-705) as a possible antiviral therapy for pneumo-and paramyxoviruses.
Achievements
Bernadette has shown that HMPV, just like HRSV, subverts the type I interferon pathway of the host innate immune system and she has shown that HMPV stocks generate defective interfering particles (DIs) quickly upon viral infection and these DIs strongly activate the type I interferon pathway. Using recombinant viruses for RSV, HMPV and chimera of these, the research group of Bernadette is aiming to identify the mechanism HMPV uses to subvert the host innate immune response.
