Div. of Influenza and other Respiratory Viruses
Robert Koch-Institut
Seestr. 10
13353 Berlin
Phone: +49 (0) 30 18754 2278, Fax: +49 (0) 30 18754 2328
Wolfft@rki.de
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Research Interests:
Thorsten Wolff serves as the head of the Division for Influenza and other respiratory Viruses at the Robert Koch-Institut (RKI) in Berlin. The research of the group centers on interactions of human and animal influenza viruses with their hosts and host cells. We are particularly interested in the factors and mechanisms by which these viruses subvert innate immune responses of their vertebrate hosts, with a special focus on the type I IFN system. Further interests include the identification and characterization of host factors of viral replication, the molecular basis of viral virulence and species specificity, and the development of ex vivo infection models. We also cooperate closely with the National Influenza Centre at RKI on the molecular epidemiology of circulating influenza viruses. In our work we combine classical virological and reverse-genetic approaches with state-of-the-art methods of proteome research, molecular biology and cell biology.