Maura Dandri is full Professor (W3) at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, in Germany, where she leads the Research Group Viral Hepatitis.
She received her B.S. in Natural Science and PhD in Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Trieste, Italy. Her training included a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York and a long-term EMBO fellowship to perform research at the Heinrich-Pette-Institute of Experimental Virology (now named Leibnitz Center of Virology) in Hamburg, Germany. In 2013 she was awarded by the German Research Foundation with a Heisenberg Professorship.
She is member of the Executive Board of the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), member of the Governing Board of the International Coalition to Eliminate HBV (ICE-HBV) and in January 2025 she has become chair of ICE-HBV.
She receives funding from the DZIF as PI active in HBV, HDV and HEV projects and coordinates the DZIF infrastructure Humanized Mice Platform at UKE. She acts as PI in the DFG funded Collaborative Research Center (CRC1648: Emerging viruses: Pathogenesis, Structure, Immunity) and she is co-spokesperson of the new DFG funded Collaborative Research Center (CRC1700: Immune regulation in the liver: from homeostasis to disease).
Her group has performed pioneering work by developing humanized mouse models for the study of human hepatitis viruses (HBV, HDV, HCV and HEV). Her translational research interest mainly focuses on investigating stability and activity of the HBV genome (cccDNA) in human hepatocytes, virus-host interactions and the potential of novel therapeutic strategies against HBV, HDV and HEV. Her lab is also experienced in monitoring viral and host parameters in patient-derived liver biopsy samples.