11.06.2025 | Wissen|schafft Gesundheit

In the ongoing lecture series Wissen|Schafft Gesundheit, Prof. Dr. Gisa Gerold will give a talk titled “Cell pirates in the body: Why it is important to understand viruses”.

The lecture will take place on Wednesday, 11th of June 2025 at 18:30 in the Large Lecture Hall, Fritz-Pregl-Straße 3, Innsbruck (free admission).
You can also join via livestream.

Description:

Viruses cannot exist for long without a host cell and therefore settle quickly when they find a suitable host. 70 per cent of the viruses that can infect us humans originate from the animal kingdom. Due to climate change and human intervention in ecosystems, habitats are changing and shifting so that human-animal contacts are becoming more frequent. One prominent newcomer, for example, is the Asian tiger mosquito, which can carry a number of tropical diseases.

In her lecture, Gisa Gerold, Director of the Institute of Virology, explains the contribution that basic virological research makes to the four pillars of epidemic prevention and management: Surveillance/diagnostics, non-pharmaceutical interventions, vaccination and medication. Specifically, the questions of what strategies viruses follow to enter our cells, what this has to do with epidemic risk and how this information helps to prevent and treat viral diseases will be explored.