Michaela Müller-Trutwin

Michaela Müller-Trutwin is Professor at Institut Pasteur and head of the “HIV, Inflammation and Persistence” Unit. She studied Biology at the University in Bonn and obtained her PhD from Paris-University, France (Barré-Sinoussi lab). She worked at Research institutes in West- and Central-Africa. She served as chair of the “Nonhuman primate models working group” and within the “innate immunity coordinated action” at the ANRS. Among other duties, she currently serves as the chair of the coordinated action on HIV basic research at the ANRS-MIE and as Vice-president of the Scientific Council at Institut Pasteur. Her research has been focused on molecular and immunological mechanisms of viral evolution and control, with a focus on HIV/AIDS. She contributed to understand the worldwide diversity of HIV and SIV viruses with an impact on patient monitoring and vaccine candidate design. Subsequently, her team has developed numerous tools for studying nonpathogenic SIV infection in natural hosts. Her studies were among those that provided the evidence that inflammation is the driving force of progression toward disease. More recently, her team uncovered the capacity of NK cells to control SIV replication in lymph nodes. The studies are performed with the ultimate aim to contribute to the development of preventive and curative approaches in humans. Her work has been honored by awards, such as by the French Medical Research Foundation.