This goal of this project is to characterize the interactions of morbilliviruses with immune cells, which are direct targets of infection, and to investigate the mechanisms causing immunosuppression, as well as defining antiviral programs that eventually clear the infection in vivo. We use canine distemper virus infections of ferrets as a model system, in which we observe a similar immunosuppression as with measles virus in humans. We will characterize the virus-induced changes in immune organs on a cellular and molecular level.
DFG Programme
Collaborative Research Centres