Additional Information

Ilies completed his MD degree in 2018 at Strasbourg University, France, following a residency in nephrology. His medical thesis, supervised by Prof. Sophie Caillard, MD, PhD, focused on the impact of pre- and post-transplantation immunizing events on immunization, graft rejection incidence, and survival outcomes.

He continued his academic journey with a PhD in the Medical and Translational Virus (MTV) Group at INSERM U1109, Strasbourg, under the leadership of Prof. Samira Fafi-Kremer, PharmaD, PhD. His doctoral research addressed virological complications in kidney transplant recipients, including:

-The prevention of BK polyomavirus infection through intravenous immunoglobulin administration based on recipient neutralizing antibody titers.

-Characterization of COVID-19 infections.

-Evaluation of the efficacy of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines and monoclonal antibodies.

In 2022, he was appointed Associate Professor of Nephrology at Strasbourg University. In 2024, he joined the Laboratory of Cellular Oncology as a postdoctoral fellow under the supervision of Dr. Gabriel J. Starrett. His current research focuses on the epigenetic mechanisms driven by Merkel cell polyomavirus and BK polyomavirus in the tumorigenesis of Merkel cell carcinoma and bladder cancer in immunocompromised populations.