Dr Robert Drillien

Robert Drillien is a research scientist at the Institute of Genetics and Molecular and Cellular Biology (IGBMC) in Illkirch-Graffenstaden, France. He obtained his PhD in virology from the University of Strasbourg, France, followed by a post-doctoral position at St Mary’s Hospital Medical School, London. His research has been conducted within the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM). Currently retired, he holds a part-time research position at the IGBMC. Much of his past work was devoted to deciphering some of the outstanding features of the molecular genetics of vaccinia virus and investigating how this virus vaccine can be modified for safer smallpox vaccination as well as be employed as a tool for vaccination against other infectious diseases. His more recent research on modified vaccinia virus Ankara has focused on developing this virus as a vector for high level protein expression in mammalian cells.