Katharina Ribbeck
Katharina Ribbeck | |
|---|---|
| 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. She is known as one of the first researchers to study how mucus impacts microbial behavior. Ribbeck investigates both the function of mucus as a barrier to pathogens such as fungi, bacteria, and viruses and how mucus can be leveraged for therapeutic purposes. She has also studied changes that cervical mucus undergoes before birth, which may lead to a novel diagnostic for the risk of preterm birth.