Sophie Van Leur

Sophie received her BSc in Life Science & Technology at the Delft University of Technology and Leiden University, before specializing in Virology by graduating from the Research Master in Infection & Immunity at Erasmus University, Rotterdam. Here, she enjoyed internships at leading virology research groups of Dr. Haagmans in Erasmus Medical Centre Rotterdam and Sumana Sanyal’s previous lab at the HKU-Pasteur Research Pole, Hong Kong. Her research interest is to understand the arms race between virus and human, specializing in positive sense RNA viruses. Herein, she focusses on the flaviviral exploitation of secretory autophagy and on the immune evasion strategies of both Zika and SARS-CoV2. Outside of her academic work, she is involved in the Graduate Student Association of the Sir William Dunn School and enjoys skiing, playing tennis, hiking and baking.