Dr. César Muñoz-Fontela (male) is the head of the Junior Research Group Emerging Viruses at HPI. Dr. Munoz-Fontela obtained his doctoral degree on Microbiology and Parasitology from the Complutense University of Madrid in 2005. He identified the antiviral activity of tumor suppressors p53 and ARF not only against DNA but also RNA viruses, and discovered a new link between tumor suppressors and the type I interferon antiviral response. These discoveries led him to be awarded with the prestigious ISICR Seymour and Vivian Milstein Young Investigator Award in 2008. As a Fulbright postdoctoral fellow in Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, he discovered the chief role of p53 as a linker between innate and adaptive immunity to emerging RNA viruses such as influenza and Ebola virus. These findings provided insight into the reasons why interferon-antagonist proteins such as influenza NS1 and Ebola virus VP35, frequently target p53. These discoveries granted him the Ramon y Cajal Award from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Education in 2011. Dr. Munoz-Fontela is a visiting scientist at the Institute for Lassa fever research and control in Irrua, Nigeria, and at the Laboratory of Hemorrhagic Fevers at Donka Hospital in Conakry, Guinea. He is a consultant for the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network as well as a member of the WHO Ebola Science Committee.