Interview—Mario Schelhaas

Schelhaas, Mario

Abstract

Mario Schelhaas was born and raised close to Cologne, Germany. He studied chemistry and biology at the universities of Cologne (Germany) and Edinburgh (Scotland). His PhD work at the Max‐Planck‐Institute of Neurological Research (Cologne, Germany) focused on the entry of herpes simplex virus type 1 into epithelial tissues. Moving to Switzerland, he worked as a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Ari Helenius at ETH Zurich researching entry of small DNA tumor viruses. Securing an Emmy‐Noether fellowship from the German research foundation (DFG) in 2004, he moved to the University of Münster (Germany) to follow up on and extend his postdoctoral work with his own junior group. In 2016, he was awarded a consolidator grant from the European Research Council, and in 2017, he was awarded a Heisenberg‐Professorship from the German research foundation (DFG). His team investigates the dynamic entry of small DNA tumor viruses from various angles including structural biology and cell biology using high‐end microscopy approaches. Recently, he and his team set out to experimentally illuminate the concept of cell context as a determinant of infection asking how aging, differentiation, and inflammation by cooperativity of different cells modulate the niche for infection.