Dr Sonja Best

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, USA

Sonja Best, Ph.D. is currently the Chief of the Laboratory of Neurological Infections and Immunity (LNII) at the Rocky Mountain Laboratories (RML) campus of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID, NIH) in the USA. Her research group, called the Innate Immunity and Pathogenesis Section, focuses on understanding the host-pathogen interface associated with the intrinsic antiviral response of cells to emerging RNA viruses. Dr. Best earned her Ph.D. from Australian National University in Australia where she examined pathogenesis of myxoma virus.  She then joined the RML, NIAID, where she conducted postdoctoral research focusing on the role of host innate immunity in viral pathogenesis prior to establishing her independent laboratory.  She is an elected fellow of the American Academy of Microbiologists and an elected member of the Henry Krunkel Society. She currently serves on multiple Editorial boards including Journal of Virology, PLoS Pathogens, and Science Translational Medicine.