Isabella Eckerle

Isabella Eckerle is the Head of the Centre for Emerging Viral Diseases at the University of Geneva. Her research considers infectious diseases and the development of cell lines that allow a better understanding of their epidemiology. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Eckerle studied the difference in response of adults and children to coronavirus disease.

Early life and education

Eckerle was born in Southern Germany. As a child she wanted to be a veterinarian or a field biologist, but ended up studying medicine at Heidelberg University. During her final year of medical school she visited Africa, which inspired her to work in infectious diseases. She decided to specialises in tropical pathogens, and spent her early medical career working in the Department of Tropical Medicine at the University Hospital Heidelberg. As a junior doctor Ecklere investigated the pathogenesis of travellers returning to Germany from abroad. She focussed on viruses of zoonotic origins.

Research and career

Eckerle moved to the University of Bonn Institute of Virology, where she worked with Christian Drosten on emerging zoonotic viruses. Here Eckerle studied renal epithelial cell lines from various reservoir hosts, including bats, rodents and insectivores. Eckerle works with other physicians, veterinarians and microbiologists, to better understand the epidemiology of emerging viruses. She created an experimental approach to instantly freeze the organs of specimens, so-called cryo-conservation, allowing her access to cells from a variety of rare species. For her work with bats, she visited Ghana and Gabon to work in the field.

In 2018 Eckerle was made a Professor at the University of Geneva, where she studies exotic cell lines. Eckerle looks to develop cell culture models to better understand the epidemiology of emerging diseases. She makes use of artificial intelligence to generate the cell lines of small mammals, and then allows viruses to replicate in a controlled laboratory setting. Using these cell lines Eckerle demonstrated that ungulates, including goats and camels, were likely intermediate hosts of middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS).

In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, Eckerle was one of several Swiss physicians who requested access to the Early Warning and Response System; the European Union's network that looks to track the spread of infectious diseases. She believed that better epidemiology, pathogenesis and treatment options were essential in the fight against coronavirus disease. In late April 2020, a serological antibody test in Geneva revealed that only 5.5% of the population had been exposed to the disease, which Eckerle described as "smaller than hoped for,". Eckerle investigated the different responses of adults and children to coronavirus disease. In particular, Eckerle studied the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in the upper respiratory tracts of neonates, children and teenagers. In early May, Eckerle reported that children who fell ill with coronavirus disease were just as infectious as adults. She investigated the viral loads of children and adults, and showed that whilst children can have a more mild form of the disease, there was little difference between the number of SARS-CoV-2 particles carried by adults and children. She was awarded funding from the Swiss National Science Foundation to investigate the reaction of the pulmonary epithelium to SARS-CoV-2 infection, in an effort to create diagnostic guidelines that help healthcare workers evaluate whether someone will contract a mild or severe form of disease.