Joana Duarte Da Rocha Pereira

Joana Duarte Da Rocha Pereira is a Tenure Track Lecturer at KU Leuven's Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Transplantation, leading the Virus-host Interactions and Therapeutic Approaches (VITA) Research Group. She is affiliated with the Faculty of Medicine and serves on the Faculty Council of Medicine and Departmental Council.

Research Focus: Her work employs

• Zebrafish larvae
• Human intestinal organoids

to study viral pathogenesis, host-pathogen interactions, and antiviral strategies, with emphasis on norovirus, rotavirus, and bunyaviruses. She investigates

• Cell tropism
• Viral dissemination
• Microbiome interactions
• Enterotoxin mechanisms

Article Trends: Her research spans pan-respiratory antivirals, zoonotic virus models, and cross-species immune responses, utilizing advanced techniques like single-cell RNA sequencing, fluorescent reporter viruses, and high-content screening.

Advising: She supervises research on

• Human intestinal organoids
• Bunyavirus endonuclease inhibition
• Rift Valley fever pathogenesis
• Viral-fungal co-infections