Dr. Alina Tscherne is an enthusiastic scientist with a doctoral degree in Veterinary Biology, and has a main research focus on vaccine development against human pathogens.
My academic training and years of research experience provided me with an excellent scientific background in many disciplines, including virology, immunology, and molecular biology. My long-term goal involves becoming an independent researcher and to continue my research work in the highly important and interesting field of virology and vaccine development.
In my doctoral thesis, I focused on the development and in vivo characterization of Modified Vaccinia virus Ankara (MVA)-based vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 (Tscherne A, PNAS 2021). In the last years, I was involved in several projects aiming to develop and characterize MVA- based candidate vaccines targeting emerging and re-emerging viruses (e.g., influenza virus, Marburg virus, Lassa virus, Nipah virus, SARS-CoV-2), which aresuitable for human use. This included the design and generation of Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP)-compliant vaccines, which fulfill the requirements for subsequent production of GMP test material and clinical testing in humans. To test the vaccines, we have established quality control procedures involving standardized assays and work flows for both in vitro and in vivo assays (Tscherne A, Methods Mol Biol 2025). We have successfully generated multiple candidate vaccines and confirmed their immunogenicity in animal models (e.g., Tscherne A, JGV 2025; Volz A, NPJ Vaccines 2025). Furthermore, two of our generated vaccines targeting SARS-CoV-2 have been tested recently in phase I clinical trials (Meyer zu Natrup C, JCI 2022; other manuscripts in preparation). My research has provided highly relevant and new insights on the potential use of MVA as a vaccine against platform against newly emerging viruses.
In September 2024, I left Germany and continued my postdoc in the Krammer laboratory at the Medical University of Vienna (Ignaz Semmelweis Institute). There, my research focus is currently on the characterization of immune responses against influenza virus subtypes, and hantaviruses in the human population. In addition, I am currently working on the development of vaccines/treatment options against Aspergillus spp., and hantaviruses.
