Anannya Bhattacharya

From the four years that I have spent at CeMM I can say for sure that this institute has provided me with the perfect platform to do state-of-the-art science in the field of inflammation and immunity in a highly international and competitive atmosphere. CeMM lives up to its mission to bridge the gap between the clinic and basic research owing to its location within the campus of the General Hospital and thereby establishing fruitful collaborations with the medics, a feature which a CeMM PhD student truly benefits from. As a pre-doctoral fellow I have been able to train myself to do cutting edge science thanks to the brilliant infrastructure we have here, ranging from an in-house next generation sequencing facility to mass spectrometry. Additionally, seminars from eminent speakers from time to time encourage stimulating scientific discussions and regular presentations on one’s project help to hone the soft skills of a PhD student, thereby training a student to be able to pursue competitive science in the near future. CeMM also opened the doors for me to be able to participate in international collaborative programs, as reflected by a month-long visit to Hokkaido University, Sapporo where I could further broaden my scientific skills.

All in all, I can say that my time at CeMM till now has been very enriching and I hope to continue to learn more until my thesis research is complete here.

Key publications

• Bhattacharya A, Hegazy AN, Deigendesch N, Kosack L, Cupovic J, Kandasamy RK, Hildebrandt A, Merkler D, Kühl AA, Schliehe C, Panse I, Vilagos B, Khamina K, Arnold I, Flatz L, Xu HC, Lang PA, Aderem A, Superti-Furga G, Colinge J, Ludewig B, Löhning M, Bergthaler A. Superoxide dismutase 1 protects from type I interferon-driven oxidative damage in viral hepatitis. Immunity, 2015, 43(5):974–986.


• Schliehe C, Flynn EK, Vilagos B, Richson U, Swaminathan S, Bosnjak B, Bauer L, Kandasamy RK, Griesshammer IM, Kosack L, Schmitz F, Litvak V, Sissons J, Lercher A, Bhattacharya A, Khamina K, Trivett AL, Tessarollo L, Mesteri I, Hladik A, Merkler D, Kubicek S, Knapp S, Epstein MM, Symer DE, Aderem A, Bergthaler A. The methyltransferase Setdb2 mediates virus-induced susceptibility to bacterial superinfection. Nature Immunology, 2015, 16(1):67-74.