Hildegard Büning serves as current President of the European Society of Gene and Cell Therapy and Scientific Secretary of the German Society for Gene Therapy. She is Professor of Infection Biology and Gene Transfer and Deputy Director of the Institute of Experimental Hematology at Hannover Medical School. She studied Biology in Münster and Munich, and obtained her PhD at the Ludwig-Maximilians University Munich in 1997. Since then, she is active in the field of adeno-associated virus (AAV) vectors with a particular focus on AAV-host interactions and AAV vector development. Aiming to optimize efficacy, specificity and safety of AAV vectors for gene therapy and regenerative medicine, her research team is developing strategies to modify the vector tropism and immunogenicity using both rational design and library-based approaches.