Dr. Matthias Götte studied Chemistry at the Technical University of Munich (Germany) and obtained his PhD degree in 1997 at the Max-Planck-Institute for Biochemistry in Martinsried. Following his postdoctoral training at the Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research in Montreal (Quebec) under the supervision of Dr. Mark Wainberg, he joined the faculty at McGill University in the Department of Microbiology & Immunology in 2000. In 2011, Dr. Götte was promoted to the rank of Professor, and, in 2013, he received the Chercheur National award of the Fonds de la Recherche en Santé du Québec. In 2014, he accepted the position as Chair of the Medical Microbiology & Immunology Department at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. Research in his laboratory is focused on the study of viral replication, its inhibition and the problem of drug resistance. His interests evolved from studies on the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and the hepatitis C virus (HCV) to RNA viruses with a high epidemic potential, including influenza, Ebola, and SARS. Results from his laboratory have contributed to the development of novel classes of viral polymerase inhibitors. Dr. Götte has published more than 100 peer-reviewed papers and edited several books in the field of biochemical virology. His research program is funded through grants from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Ministry of Development and Trade in Alberta, and the pharmaceutical industry.
Team Category: Associate Directors
READDI co-founder and scientific adviser Mark Heise is a professor in the UNC School of Medicine’s genetics department. His research program is focused on understanding how viral and host genetic factors interact to influence virus-induced disease.
Mark is currently studying alphaviruses — mosquito-borne RNA viruses that cause encephalitis and infectious arthritis in humans — as well the respiratory viruses influenza A and SARS-CoV-2. He uses a combination of molecular virology, viral immunology and systems genetics approaches in his research. Among other things, he seeks to define the mechanisms by which certain determinants promote virus-induced disease and to understand how host genetic variation affects the ways individuals respond to infection or vaccination.
Mark’s lab is also part of a large interdisciplinary antiviral drug development program at UNC. In addition to gaining new insights into the way viruses induce disease, the program’s goal is to leverage this research to develop new therapies for the prevention or treatment of human disease. These include broad-spectrum antivirals aimed at SARS-CoV-2 and also emerging alphaviruses, for which there are no approved therapeutic antivirals.
Mark earned a Doctor of Philosophy in immunology from Washington University in St. Louis and a Bachelor of Arts in biology from St. Olaf College.
READDI co-founder and scientific adviser Nat Moorman is an associate professor in the UNC School of Medicine’s microbiology and immunology department. His research includes studying how viruses hijack cellular machinery to facilitate their replication.
Nat uses a combination of new technologies and traditional molecular virology techniques to investigate host-pathogen interactions, especially the ways viruses alter cell signaling pathways to drive viral protein synthesis. In addition, he is leading multiple efforts to discover and develop novel direct-acting and host-targeted antiviral drugs for viruses of pandemic concern.
Nat was a postdoctoral fellow at Princeton for six years. He earned a Doctor of Philosophy in molecular biology and microbial pathogenesis from the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and a Bachelor of Science in microbiology from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.