Ekaterina Heldwein

Research/Areas of Interest

The work in my laboratory focuses on herpesviruses. These large, complex, and ancient viruses infect most of the world's population for life and can cause a number of ailments ranging from cold sores to blindness, encephalitis, and cancers. Development of new therapeutic approaches to lessen the burden of herpesvirus diseases requires a deeper understanding of how herpesviruses manipulate their hosts. Research in my laboratory aims to answer three broad questions: How do herpesviruses enter cells to initiate infection? How are progeny virions assembled and released from the cells? How do virions move in infected cells? To gain deeper insight into molecular mechanisms of the herpesvirus life cycle, we harness the power of structural biology, biochemistry, biophysics and cell biology. Our long-term goal is to translate this resulting body of mechanistic knowledge to the discovery of new and effective antivirals.