Recent virology research has revealed the urgent need to extend our understanding to the mechanistic level, i.e., how viral proteins and protein complexes exert their functions within the host cell. The focus of VISION will be to train a new generation of virologists to use cutting-edge imaging techniques thereby establishing an integrative structural virology approach to better understand the complexity of mechanisms and biological functions in the course of viral infections. To achieve this goal, we have assembled a research programme based on three main biological areas of interest
A. Protein-protein interactions in virus assembly B. Viral and cellular proteins in their lipid environment C. Molecular switches in the viral life cycle
The 11 scientific projects of VISION and the seven associated projects will be supervised by internationally recognised scientists from numerous world-class research institutions in Northern Germany: Universität zu Lübeck (UzL), Universität Hamburg (UHH), Centre of Structural Systems Biology (CSSB), University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE), Leibniz Institute for Virology (LIV), Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine (BNITM), Medizinische Hochschule Hannover (MHH), Technische Universität Braunschweig, and European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL).
