Dr Sophie Valkenburg is a junior group leader in the international HKU-Pasteur Research Pole, School of Public Health. Her research team is focussed on immune correlates of protection from influenza infection. Using a combination of mouse and human models with cellular assays and flow cytometry the team is poised to study the the effects of vaccination in the elderly of Hong Kong, correlation of immunity with infection and patterns of immune escape. 

She obtained her PhD from training at the University of Melbourne, Australia on CD8 T cell immunity to influenza infection with Dr Katherine Kedzierska. Dr Valkenburg joined the University of Hong Kong for her postdoctoral training with Professor Leo LM Poon to explore universal influenza vaccines.