Dr. Shaked Ashkenazi moved to Oxford with the support of the Royal Society – International Newton Fellowship and she is a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Prof. Matthew Freeman in Sir William Dunn School of Pathology. She obtained her Ph.D. from the Weizmann Institute of Science, where she became interested in the molecular regulation of the innate immune system. Her current research focuses on how proteins interact with one another to execute immune response to viruses, as well as cell death decisions. Naturally, the immune response to viruses is proving to be a major scientific interest. Understanding the molecular mechanisms governing it, may lead to understanding of the pathologies resulting from them, and as a result, to the development of new targeted therapies.