Dr. Weiskopf received her PhD in 2009 from the Innsbruck Medical University, Austria where she performed research analyzing post-translational modifications of viral derived epitopes as well as the influence of aging on modulation of the T cell immune response. Dr. Weiskopf joined Dr. Sette’s lab as a post-doctoral research fellow in 2009 and applied her knowledge of human T cell immune responses to human pathogens to understand the role of T cells in the context of infection with dengue virus.
Dr. Weiskopf has eleven years of experience in studying T cell immunity and six years specifically dedicated to the study of DENV-specific T cell responses. Over the last several years, she established and published a model of human DENV disease using HLA transgenic mouse strains. Additionally, Dr. Weiskopf has led efforts to characterize human DENV-specific CD8+ and CD4+ T cell responses in both, samples from areas with endemic dengue infection and following vaccination. Dr. Weiskopf is the lead-author of multiple peer-reviewed publications relating to mapping and characterization of DENV specific T cell response. Dr. Weiskopf’s expertise is additionally evidenced by her selection as a speaker to present the results of the LJI DENV program at various national and international conferences.