Katharina Ribbeck | |
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Born | Darmstadt, Germany |
Alma mater | University of Heidelberg, Germany |
Known for | Studies on the role of mucus in human health, mucus’ influence on the behavior of harmful pathogens, and the molecular mechanism by which the nuclear pore mediates selective transport |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Biological Engineering |
Institutions | Massachusetts Institute of Technology Harvard University |
Thesis | Mechanistic analysis of transport through the nuclear pore complex (2001) |
Academic advisors | Dirk Görlich, Tim Mitchison, Iain Mattaj, Andrew Murray, Jan Ellenberg |
Katharina Ribbeck is a German-American biologist. She is the Andrew (1956) and Erna Viterbi Professor of Biological Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.[1] She is known as one of the first researchers to study how mucus impacts microbial behavior.[2][3] Ribbeck investigates both the function of mucus as a barrier to pathogens such as fungi, bacteria, and viruses [4][5][6] and how mucus can be leveraged for therapeutic purposes.[1] She has also studied changes that cervical mucus undergoes before birth, which may lead to a novel diagnostic for the risk of preterm birth.[7]