MD, Paediatrician and PhD, heads the Viral Evolution and Transmission Unit. She has been Science Director of the Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise, New York, and Director of the Division of B cell and mucosal immunity of the Vaccine Research Institute, Paris.

Her research focuses on the virologic and immunologic mechanisms of mother-to-child transmission of HIV and paediatric/adult infections. She demonstrated the role of the intestinal mucosa in delivering the virus by talking with submucosal cells, and provided evidence of viral evolution driven by humoral immunity during infection. This led to the establishment of international collaborations aimed at preclinical identification, development and selection of HIV vaccine candidates, such as NeutNet, a worldwide consortium dedicated to the standardisation of HIV neutralisation assays, and the Humoral Immunity Platform of EUROPRISE. She coordinated the project NGIN “Next generation immunogens inducing broadly reactivity neutralising antibodies”. Recently she joined the H2020 Project “European AIDS Vaccine Initiative (EAVI) 2020” and leads the development of immunological analysis to define predictive signatures for the prioritization of HIV vaccines.

She published over 118 peer-reviewed articles and secured funding from European Commission, Italian Ministry of Health, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, ANRS and SidAction. She acts as referee for review committees and is in the Editorial board of science journals. She coaches graduate and PhD students.