Frankfurt (dpa/lhe) - The state of Hesse and the Willy Robert Pitzer Foundation will support virus research at Frankfurt's Goethe University with more than three million euros over the next ten years. The money should flow into material and personnel costs, as the university announced on Thursday. The focus is on another professorship that is currently being advertised.
First, the state is funding the Institute for Medical Virology headed by Sandra Ciesek through the so-called "LOEWE top professorship" for five years with 1.4 million euros. The foundation will then give 1.75 million euros for a further five years.
"The SARS-CoV-2 virus has had a major impact on our lives over the past two years. Thanks to the achievements of science, we were able to counter the virus quickly. In order to be well prepared in the future, cutting-edge research is required in the field of virology ", said Enrico Schleiff, President of the Goethe University.
"Many of the new viral diseases of recent years were triggered by RNA viruses, such as Ebola, MERS or SARS," added Ciesek. "In order to be well prepared for new pathogenic viruses, we need to better understand how they work in humans and how they spread."
