Mgr. Veronika Bernhauerová, Ph.D.

Employment

2020 - present   (Assistant Professor) Charles University, Faculty of Pharmacy, Department of Biophysics and Physical Chemistry, Hradec Králové, Czech Republic
2017 - 2019   (Postdoctoral Researcher) Institut Pasteur, Department of Virology, Viral Populations and Pathogenesis Unit (Laboratory of Marco Vignuzzi), Paris, France
2015 - 2017   (Postdoctoral Researcher) St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Department of Infectious Diseases (Laboratory of Amber M. Smith), Memphis, TN, USA 

Research Interests

I study biological systems using mathematical and statistical modelling. Currently, I mainly focus on developing mathematical models to

• describe viral replication and infection in vitro (e.g. SARS-CoV-2, Zika, chikungunya),
• study ecological and evolutionary dynamics of infectious diseases,
• understand drug-induced gene expression in hepatocytes.

Teaching

• Mathematics (CZ)
• Applied Statistics (CZ, EN)
• Applied Computer Technology (CZ, EN)
• Computer Technology (CZ)

Education

2011 - 2015   (Ph.D., study program Probability, Statistics and Mathematical Modelling) Masaryk University, Faculty of Science, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Brno, Czech Republic
2009 - 2011   (Mgr. with honors, study program Mathematical Analysis) Silesian University, Mathematical institute, Opava, Czech Republic
2008 - 2010   (Bc., study program Mathematical Methods in Economy) Silesian University, Mathematical institute, Opava, Czech Republic
2006 - 2009   (Bc., study program Applied Mathematics) Silesian University, Mathematical institute, Opava, Czech Republic

Short-term research fellowships

07/2024 - 09/2024 (10 weeks) Visiting scientist at Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Polad (funded by Visegrad Fellowship Program)
06/2014 - 08/2014 (3 month) University of Michigan, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (Laboratory of Pejman Rohani), Ann Arbor, MI, USA
08/2012 (1 week) The Helsinki Summer School on Mathematical Ecology and Evolution: Theory of Speciation, Turku, Finland

Professional development

2018 (3 day course) Next-Generation Sequencing Data Analysis: A Practical Introduction, Munich, Germany
2018 (4 day course) RNA-Seq Data Analysis Workshop, Berlin, Germany

Awards

2011 3^rd prize in SVOČ, section Mathematical Models of Dynamics (thesis: Stability in Darwinan Dynamics), Jan Evangelista Purkyně University, Ústí nad Labem, Czech Republic

Funding

07/2024 - 09/2024 Visegrad Fellowship ( grant no. 62410163, Role: Principal Investigator)  Mathematical modeling of enterovirus lifecycle. Awarded by Visegrad Fellowship Program (5,000 EUR)

03/2024 - 02/2028 Programme Johannes Amos Comenius (grant no. CZ.02.01.01/00/22_008/0004607, Role: Member of the Team - Work Package 5: Advanced in vitro and in silico approaches in drug development) New technologies for translational research in pharmaceutical sciences / NETPHARM. Awarded by: Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, Czech Republic, co-funded by the European Union

01/2024 - 12/2028 UNCE (grant no. UNCE/24/MED/008, Role: Member of the Team) Advanced models, experimental approaches and bioinformatics in pharmaceutical research / ADVERSE. Awarded by: Charles University, Czech Republic

12/2023 - 11/2025 qLIFE PRA (grant no. qL.1.9.2023, Role: Co-Investigator) Mathematics of Enterovirus Life Cycle (MELC): Modelling infection, replication and release for targeted therapy. Awarded by: Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland

01/2022 - 12/2025 PRIMUS (grant no. PRIMUS/22/MED/017, Role: Principal Investigator) Mathematical modelling of gene expression dynamics regulated by nuclear receptors in hepatocyte spheroids. Awarded by: Charles University, Czech Republic

Publications

-2024-

[14] Levi L. I., E. A. Madden, J. Boussier, D. Erazo, W. Sanders, T. Vallet, V. Bernhauerová, N. J. Moorman, M. T. Heise, and M. Vignuzzi (2024). Chikungunya virus RNA secondary structures impact defective viral genome production. Microorganisms 12(9): 1794. https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms12091794 (IF₂₀₂₄=TBA; Q_AIS,2024=TBA)

-2022-

[13] Bernhauerová, V. (2022). Adapting to vaccination. Nature Ecology & Evolution 6:673–674. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-022-01748-5 (IF₂₀₂₂=16.8; Q_AIS,2022=Q1,Q1)

[12] Smutný T., V. Bernhauerová, L. Smutná, J. Duintjer Tebbens, and P. Pávek (2022). Expression dynamics of pregnane X receptor-controlled genes in 3D primary human hepatocyte spheroids. Archives of Toxicology  96:195–210. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00204-021-03177-y (IF₂₀₂₂=6.1; Q_AIS,2022=Q1)

-2021-

[11] Bernhauerová V., B. Lisowski, V.V. Rezelj, and M. Vignuzzi (2021). Mathematical modelling of SARS-CoV-2 infection of human and animal host cells reveals differences in the infection rates and delays in viral particle production by infected cells. Journal of Theoretical Biology 531: 110895. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtbi.2021.110895 (IF₂₀₂₁=2.405; Q_AIS,2021=Q2,Q3)

[10] Rezelj V. V., L. Carrau, F. Merwaiss, L. I. Levi, D. Erazo-Quintero, D. Tran, A. Henrion-Lacritick, V. Gausson, Y. Suzuki, D. Shenguler, B. Meyer, T. Vallet, J. Weger-Lucarelli, V. Bernhauerová, A. Titievsky, V. Sharov, S. Pietropaoli, M. A. Diaz-Salinas, V. Legros, N. Pardigon, G. Barba-Spaeth, L. Brodsky, M. C. Saleh, and M. Vignuzzi (2021). High fitness deletion hotspots in defective viral genomes enable the development of therapeutic interfering particles against flavivirus infection. Nature Communications 12(1): 2290. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-22341-7 (IF₂₀₂₁=17.694; Q_AIS,2021=Q1)

[9] Levi L. I., V. V. Rezelj, A. Henrion-Lacritick, D. Erazo, J. Boussier, T. Vallet, V. Bernhauerová, Y. Suzuki, L. Carrau, J. Weger-Lucarelli, M. C. Saleh, and M. Vignuzzi (2021). Defective viral genomes from chikungunya virus are broad-spectrum antivirals and prevent virus dissemination in mosquitoes. PLoS Pathogens 17(2): e1009110. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1009110 (IF₂₀₂₁=7.464; Q_AIS,2021=Q1,Q1,Q1)

-2020-

[8] Bernhauerová V., V. V. Rezelj, and M. Vignuzzi (2020). Modelling degradation and replication kinetics of the Zika virus in vitro infection. Viruses 12(5). https://doi.org/10.3390/v12050547 (IF₂₀₂₀=5.048; Q_AIS,2020=Q2)

-2018-

[7] Smith A. P., D. J. Moquin, V. Bernhauerová, and A. M. Smith (2018). Influenza virus infection model with density dependence supports biphasic viral decay. Frontiers in Microbiology 9. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2018.01554 (IF₂₀₁₈=4.259; Q_AIS,2018=Q1,Q2)

[6] Berec L., V. Bernhauerová, and B. Boldin (2018). Evolution of mate-finding Allee effects in prey. Journal of Theoretical Biology 441. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtbi.2017.12.024 (IF₂₀₁₈=1.875; Q_AIS,2018=Q2,Q2)

[5] Berec L., A. M. Kramer, V. Bernhauerová, and J. M. Drake (2018). Density-dependent selection on mate-searching traits and evolution of mate-finding Allee effects. Journal of Animal Ecology 87(1). https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.12662 (IF₂₀₁₈=4.364; Q_AIS,2018=Q1,Q1)

-2016-

[4] Bernhauerová V. (2016). Vaccine-driven evolution of parasite virulence and immune evasion in age-structured population: the case of pertussis. Theoretical Ecology 9(4):431-442. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12080-016-0300-5 (IF₂₀₁₆=1.221; Q_AIS,2016=Q2)

[3] Berec L., D. Maxin, and V. Bernhauerová (2016). Male-killing bacteria as agents of insect pest control. Journal of Applied Ecology 53(4):1270-1279. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.12638 (IF₂₀₁₆=5.301; Q_AIS,2016=Q1,Q1)

-2015-

[2] Bernhauerová V., L. Berec and D. Maxin (2015). Evolution of early male-killing in horizontally transmitted parasites. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences 282(1818). http://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2015.2068 (IF₂₀₁₅=4.823; Q_AIS,2015=Q1)

[1] Bernhauerová V. and L. Berec (2015). Role of trade-off between sexual and vertical routes for evolution of pathogen transmission. Theoretical Ecology 8(1). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12080-014-0234-8 (IF₂₀₁₅=2.085; Q_AIS,2015=Q2)