Giovanna Barba-Spaeth

Giovanna Barba-Spaeth is a Group Leader in the Structural Virology Unit at the Institut Pasteur in Paris, where she leads the FlavImmunity research group. Her work focuses on the structural and functional dynamics of enveloped viruses, particularly flaviviruses (dengue, Zika, yellow fever, West Nile) and SARS-CoV-2.

Her research interests center on understanding the conformational changes in viral envelope proteins during virus entry, fusion, and egress, and how these processes are modulated by the cellular environment and neutralizing antibodies. She employs cutting-edge techniques such as cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM and cryo-ET), single-particle fluorescence microscopy, and functional assays under BSL-3 conditions.

The 15 most recent publications highlight a strong focus on flavivirus immunology, antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE), vaccine responses, and structural mechanisms of viral entry and neutralization. Key themes include cross-reactivity between dengue and Zika, the impact of prior flavivirus immunity on yellow fever vaccination, structural insights into envelope protein dynamics, and the development of tools like CoronaFISH for visualizing SARS-CoV-2 RNA.

• Human type I IFN deficiency does not impair B cell response to SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccination.
• Analysis of mRNA vaccination-elicited RBD-specific memory B cells reveals strong but incomplete immune escape of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant.
• Prior flavivirus immunity skews the yellow fever vaccine response to cross-reactive antibodies with potential to enhance dengue virus infection.

She mentors several researchers, including PhD student Sina Sommer and MSc student Jolyn Ooster, and collaborates with laboratories at LMU Munich. Her group is internationally recognized for its contributions to structural virology and flavivirus immunology, with publications in top-tier journals such as Nature, Nature Immunology, and Nature Communications.