Dr. Fernandez-Sesma is currently a professor with tenure and the Chair of the Department of Microbiology at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (ISMMS) in New York, NY, USA. Her research focuses on the modulation of innate immunity by viruses of human health interests, such as dengue (DENV), influenza (IAV), human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and Zika (ZIKV) and also SARS-CoV-2. Her group uses mainly primary human systems, such as dendritic cells (DCs) and macrophages as well as primary lung epithelial cells and human tonsils for these studies combining molecular and immunological techniques. Her studies aim to understand the mechanisms of immune evasion used by these viruses to establish infection in humans. She currently participates in several multi-investigator projects on DENV, IAV and SARS-CoV-2 that use OMICS technologies to study immune responses to infection and vaccination.  She has also participated in several study sections for the National Institutes of Health (NIH/NIAD), the Department of Defense (DoD) and the Centers of Disease Control (CDC) and has been a member of the Scientific Council of the Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (DMID) at NIH/NIAID for the past 4 years. Dr. Fernandez-Sesma chaired the NIAID Human Immunology Project Consortium (HIPC) Steering Committee from 2018-2022. She is also very dedicated to graduate education and mentoring. She co-directed the Microbiology Main Training Area of the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at ISMMS from 2010 to 2020. She has co-authored numerous publications in Virology and Immunology journals and sits on the editorial board of Journal of Virology, mSphere and PLoS Pathogens. Dr. Fernandez-Sesma is an alumna of the Graduate School of Biological Sciences at ISMMS. She is alsoa Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology, a recipient of the Jacobi Medallion from ISMMS and honorary alumni of the University of Salamanca, in Spain among other notable recognitions. Dr. Fernandez-Sesma is co-organizing the 2023 Gordon Research Conference: Viruses and Cells and will deliver the Keynote lecture at the 2023 Annual Meeting for the American Society of Virology. Licenciada en Biología (especialidad Biotecnología) y Doctora con Mención Internacional por la Universidad de Alicante (España). Su carrera profesional se centra en la investigación Biomédica de enfermedades humanas incurables. En concreto, Laura estudia enfermedades neurodegenerativas de la retina que causan pérdida grave de visión o ceguera. Durante su etapa predoctoral investigo mecanismos moleculares subyacentes a dichas enfermedades, como son el sistema ubicuitina-proteasoma, encargado de la homeostasis proteica celular, y la disfunción mitocondrial. También exploró el potencial neuroprotector de compuestos con propiedades antiapoptóticas y antiinflamatorias en modelos animales de degeneración retiniana. Además, Laura hizó una estancia de investigación en el Institut de la Vision en París (Francia). Actualmente, es investigadora postdoctoral en los Institutos Nacionales de la Salud (Estados Unidos) y su investigación se centra en el campo del envejecimiento y las enfermedades de la retina asociadas con la edad.