I was awarded my Ph.D. in 2003, graduating from the University of Leeds. Since then, I have accumulated 18 years’ continuous research experience in molecular virology and medical research. I completed two successful post-doctoral posts in leading virology laboratories, the first with Prof Jonathan Ball at the University of Nottingham (2003-2012) and the second with Prof Thomas Pietschmann at Twincore, Germany (2012-2018). Since January 2019 I have been successfully running my own research laboratory in the Department of Veterinary Medicine at Paul Ehrlich Institute in Langen, Germany. As head of the ‘Virus Tropism and Immunogencity’ group, I have invaluable experience in setting up, managing and maintaining an academic research group. I possess extensive experience working with a range of clinically important viruses under biological safety levels 2 and 3. My published research is broadly focused on viruses that cause disease in humans, and includes a range of human-tropic (HCV, HBV, hRSV, hCoV-229E) and zoonotic pathogens (HEV, HIV-1, CHIKV). Since moving to moving to the Paul Ehrlich Institute I have also initiated work programs focusing on insect-transmitted flaviviruses (YFV, ZIKV, WNV, JEV) and SARS-CoV-2. In general, my current research is focused on identifying species-barrier determinants and modulators of viral cellular tropism.