Karim Majzoub

Karim Majzoub studied biotechnology at the École Supérieure de Biotechnologie de Strasbourg (ESBS) (2005-2008), a tri-national engineering program between four partner universities in Strasbourg (France), Karlsruhe and Freiburg (Germany) and Basel (Switzerland). He then joined the laboratory of Jules Hoffmann and Jean-Luc Imler for his PhD thesis at the University of Strasbourg, where he worked on RNA viruses and Drosophila antiviral immunity (2009-2013). In 2014, Karim joined the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Stanford University for his post-doctoral training in Jan Carette’s laboratory. At Stanford, Karim contributed to the development and implementation of the first genome-scale CRISPR screens that uncovered host factors essential for the replication of RNA viruses such as Hepatitis C, Dengue and Zika viruses. Karim also adapted unbiased proteomic techniques to identify RNA-binding proteins associated with viral RNA genomes. In 2019, Karim returned to Europe and joined the laboratory of Thomas Baumert at INSERM, France where he started applying novel genetics and proteomics techniques to study Hepatitis B and Delta viruses. In the summer of 2021, Karim joined the Institut de Génétique Moléculaire de Montpellier (IGMM) of CNRS as a Junior Group Leader. Karim’s group is currently interested in the newly discovered deltaviruses and their interaction with host cells. By developing new molecular tools to study deltaviruses in both human and other animal cell culture models, Karim’s group aims to generate essential knowledge about the biology of deltaviruses, their interactions with host cells, their zoonotic potential and their evolutionary fitness.