Current Position

Senior Scientist, Head of Molecular Virology Department
Associate Professor, CING Postgraduate School
 

Research Interests

• Surveillance and epidemiology of Enteroviruses, respiratory viruses as well as Arboviruses in Cyprus
• Role of EBV genetic variants in Multiple sclerosis
• Design, modification and production of viral vectors for gene therapy
   

Biography

Dr. Jan Richter holds a postgraduate degree in biophysics and has obtained his PhD focusing on theoretical and molecular immunology at the University of Leipzig, Germany. From 2000-2002 he was a Scientific research associate at the Interdisciplinary Centre for Clinical Research, University of Leipzig, Germany where he investigated the principles of venom immunotherapy. In February 2003 he joined the Department of Molecular Virology of the CING. His work initially focused on the surveillance, epidemiology and phylogenetic analysis of enteroviruses and a wide range of respiratory viruses in Cyprus as well as the investigation of the role of WNV in CNS infections. In collaboration with the Neuroscience department he has developed profound experience and expertise in the construction, modification and production of viral vectors for gene therapy of neuromuscular diseases. More recently, he started investigating the role of Epstein-Barr virus variants in the aetiology of multiple sclerosis. Furthermore, he is interested in developing AAV-mediated chaperone therapy of ALS phenotypes associated with TDP-43 proteinopathy and the possible role of Enteroviruses in the development of such protein misfolding diseases.
He is associate professor in the CING postgraduate school where he is programme coordinator of the MSc Biotechnology programme and course coordinator of the “Fundamentals in Biotechnology” course.