Dr. Meriem Bekliz is officially a biologist, holding a Ph.D. in Human Diseases with a specialization in Infectious Diseases from Aix-Marseille University in France. She developed a keen interest in virology and infectious diseases at an early stage. Her outstanding doctoral work earned her several prestigious awards, including the Best Ph.D. Thesis Award and the Best Junior Publication Award from Aix-Marseille University.
Following the successful completion of her Ph.D., where she studied various viruses, including giant viruses and virophages, she joined the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland as a postdoctoral researcher.
She later joined the University of Geneva and began working within the team at the Geneva Centre for Emerging Viral Diseases, led by Professor Isabella Eckerle. Her research focuses on emerging viruses and scientific communication related to pandemics. Dr. Bekliz contributes to understanding the in vitro immune response of emerging viruses, such as SARS-CoV-2 and Monkeypox viruses, as well as their phenotypes. She also manages the SARS-CoV-2 biobank, which contains virus isolates from well-defined clinical samples. Additionally, she has been involved in the validation of several diagnostic tools for emerging viruses in close collaboration with the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND).

LinkedIn: Meriem-bekliz
Google Scholar ID: Z1lkl8AAAAJ
ORCID: 0000-0003-3186-1877

Peer-Reviewed Publications

1. Arnaud Charles-Antoine Zwygart, M.D; Chiara Medaglia; Robin Huber; Romain Poli; Laurence Marcourt; Sylvain Schnée; Emilie Michellod; Beryl Mazel-Sanchez; Samuel Constant; Song Huang; Meriem Bekliz; Katia Gindro; Emerson Ferreira Queiroz. Antiviral properties of trans-δ-viniferin derivatives against enveloped viruses. Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy. 2023. 114825, ISSN 0753-3322, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopha.2023.114825 . IF-2023: 7.419
2. Bekliz M, Adea K, Puhach O, Perez-Rodriguez F, Marques Melancia S, Baggio S, Corvaglia AR, Jacquerioz F, Alvarez C, Essaidi-Laziosi M, Escadafal C, Kaiser L, Eckerle I. Analytical Sensitivity of Eight Different SARS-CoV-2 Antigen-Detecting Rapid Tests for Omicron-BA.1 Variant. MICROBIOLOGY SPECTRUM. 2022 Aug 31;10(4):e0085322. doi: 10.1128/spectrum.00853-22. Epub 2022 Aug 8. PMID: 35938792; PMCID: PMC9430749. IF-2022: 9.043
3. Lorthe E, Bellon M, Michielin G, Berthelot J, Zaballa ME, Pennacchio F, Bekliz M, Laubscher F, Arefi F, Perez-Saez J, Azman AS, L'Huillier AG, Posfay-Barbe KM, Kaiser L, Guessous I, Maerkl SJ, Eckerle I, Stringhini S; SEROCoV-Schools Study Group. Epidemiological, virological and serological investigation of a SARS-CoV-2 outbreak (Alpha variant) in a primary school: A prospective longitudinal study. PLOS ONE. 2022 Aug 17;17(8):e0272663. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0272663. PMID: 35976947; PMCID: PMC9385020. IF-2022: 3.752
4. Bekliz M, Adea K, Vetter P, Eberhardt CS, Hosszu-Fellous K, Vu DL, Puhach O, Essaidi-Laziosi M, Waldvogel-Abramowski S, Stephan C, L'Huillier AG, Siegrist CA, Didierlaurent AM, Kaiser L, Meyer B, Eckerle I. Neutralization capacity of antibodies elicited through homologous or heterologous infection or vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 VOCs. NATURE COMMUNICATIONS. 2022 Jul 4;13(1):3840. doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-31556-1. PMID: 35787633; PMCID: PMC9253337. IF-2022: 17.694
5. Bekliz M et al., Viral diversity is linked to bacterial community composition in alpine stream biofilms. ISME COMMUNICATIONS. 2, 27, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43705-022-00112-9. IF-2022: 11.217
6. Corbisier P, Petrillo M, Marchini A, Querci M, Buttinger G, Bekliz M, Spiess K, Polacek C, Fomsgaard A, Van den Eede G. A qualitative RT-PCR assay for the specific identification of the SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.529 (Omicron) Variant of Concern. JOURNAL OF CLINICAL VIROLOGY. 2022 Jul;152:105191. doi: 10.1016/j.jcv.2022.105191. Epub 2022 May 24. PMID: 35640400; PMCID: PMC9126828. IF-2022: 14.481
7. Ulrich L, Halwe NJ, Taddeo A, Ebert N, Schön J, Devisme C, Trüeb BS, Hoffmann B, Wider M, Fan X, Bekliz M, Essaidi-Laziosi M, Schmidt ML, Niemeyer D, Corman VM, Kraft A, Godel A, Laloli L, Kelly JN, Calderon BM, Breithaupt A, Wylezich C, Berenguer Veiga I, Gultom M, Osman S, Zhou B, Adea K, Meyer B, Eberhardt CS, Thomann L, Gsell M, Labroussaa F, Jores J, Summerfield A, Drosten C, Eckerle IA, Wentworth DE, Dijkman R, Hoffmann D, Thiel V, Beer M, Benarafa C. Enhanced fitness of SARS-CoV-2 variant of concern Alpha but not Beta. 2021.06.28.450190. NATURE. 2022 Feb;602(7896):307-313. doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-04342-0. Epub 2021 Dec 22. PMID: 34937050; PMCID: PMC8828469. IF-2021: 69.504
8. Bekliz M, Adea K, Essaidi-Laziosi M, Sacks JA, Escadafal C, Kaiser L, Eckerle I. SARS-CoV-2 antigen-detecting rapid tests for the delta variant. THE LANCET MICROBE. 2022 Feb;3(2):e90. doi: 10.1016/S2666-5247(21)00302-5. Epub 2021 Nov 24. PMID: 34849494; PMCID: PMC8612709. IF-2022: 86.208
9. Bekliz M, Adea K, Essaidi-Laziosi M, Sacks JA, Escadafal C, Kaiser L, Eckerle I. SARS-CoV-2 rapid diagnostic tests for emerging variants. THE LANCET MICROBE. 2021 Aug;2(8):e351. doi: 10.1016/S2666-5247(21)00147-6. Epub 2021 Jun 29. PMID: 34223400; PMCID: PMC8241290. IF-2021: 86.208
10. Vetter P, Cordey S, Schibler M, Vieux L, Despres L, Laubscher F, Andrey DO, Martischang R, Harbarth S, Cuvelier C, Bekliz M, Eckerle I, Siegrist CA, Didierlaurent AM, Eberhardt CS, Meyer B, Kaiser L; Geneva Center for Emerging Viral Diseases. Clinical, virologic and immunologic features of a mild case of SARS-CoV-2 reinfection. CLIN MICROBIOL INFECT. 2021 Feb 20;27(5):791.e1–4. doi: 10.1016/j.cmi.2021.02.010. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 33618012; PMCID: PMC7896115. IF-2021: 13.31
11. Bekliz M, Brandani J, Bourquin M, Battin TJ, Peter H.  Benchmarking protocols for the metagenomic analysis of stream biofilm viromes. PEERJ. 2019 Dec 20;7:e8187. doi: 10.7717/peerj.8187. PMID: 31879573; PMCID: PMC6927355. IF-2019: 3.06
12. Mougari S, Bekliz M, Abrahao J, Di Pinto F, Levasseur A, La Scola B. Guarani Virophage, a New Sputnik-Like Isolate From a Brazilian Lake. FRONTIERS IN MICROBIOLOGY. 2019 May 3;10:1003. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2019.01003. PMID: 31130943; PMCID: PMC6510173. IF-2019: 5.640
13. Bekliz M, Azza S, Seligmann H, Decloquement P, Raoult D, La Scola B. Experimental Analysis of Mimivirus Translation Initiation Factor 4a Reveals Its Importance in Viral Protein Translation during Infection of Acanthamoeba polyphaga. JOURNAL OF VIROLOGY. 2018 Apr 27;92(10):e00337-18. doi: 10.1128/JVI.00337-18. PMID: 29514904; PMCID: PMC5923065. IF-2018: 4.324
14. Bekliz M, Levasseur A, La Scola B, Raoult D. The defence system MIMIVIRE in mimivirus illustrates Red Queen hypothesis. MED SCIENCE. 2016 Oct;32(10):818-819. doi: 10.1051/medsci/20163210009. Epub 2016 Oct 19. PMID: 27758740. IF-2016: 2.33
15. Levasseur A^#, Bekliz M^#, Chabrière E, Pontarotti P, La Scola B, Raoult D. MIMIVIRE is a defence system in mimivirus that confers resistance to virophage. NATURE. 2016 Mar 10;531(7593):249-52. doi: 10.1038/nature17146. Epub 2016 Feb 29. PMID: 26934229. IF-2016: 40.137
16. Bekliz M, Verneau J, Benamar S, Raoult D, La Scola B, Colson P.A New Zamilon-like Virophage Partial Genome Assembled from a Bioreactor Metagenome. FRONT IN MICROBIOL. 2015 Nov 27;6:1308. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2015.01308. PMID: 26640459; PMCID: PMC4661282. IF-2015: 4.076
17. Pagnier I, Reteno DG, Saadi H, Boughalmi M, Gaia M, Slimani M, Ngounga T, Bekliz M, Colson P, Raoult D, La Scola B. A decade of improvements in Mimiviridae and Marseilleviridae isolation from amoeba. INTERVIROLOGY. 2013;56(6):354-63. doi: 10.1159/000354556. Epub 2013 Oct 17. PMID: 24157882. IF-2013: 2.294

Pre-prints & reviews

1. O Puhach, M Bellon, K Adea, M Bekliz, K Hosszu-Fellous, P Sattonnet, S Coudurier-Boeuf, I Arm-Vernez, L Kaiser, I Eckerle, B Meyer. SARS-CoV-2 mucosal antibody responses to vaccination and infection. 2023. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.03.24.23287677
2. Manel Essaidi-Laziosi, Francisco Javier Perez Rodriguez, Catia Alvarez, Pascale Sattonnet-Roche, Giulia Torriani, Meriem Bekliz, Kenneth Adea, Matthias Lenk, Tasnim Suliman, Wolfgang Preiser, Marcel A. Müller, Christian Drosten, Laurent Kaiser, Isabella Eckerle. Distinct phenotype of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron BA.1 in human primary cells but no increased host range in cell lines of putative mammalian reservoir species. BIORXIV. 2022. 10.04.510352; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.10.04.510352
3. Rolland C, Andreani J, Louazani AC, Aherfi S, Francis R, Rodrigues R, Silva LS, Sahmi D, Mougari S, Chelkha N, Bekliz M, Silva L, Assis F, Dornas F, Khalil JYB, Pagnier I, Desnues C, Levasseur A, Colson P, Abrahão J, La Scola B. Discovery and Further Studies on Giant Viruses at the IHU Mediterranee Infection That Modified the Perception of the Virosphere. VIRUSES. 2019; 30;11(4). Review. IF-2019: 3.91
4. Bekliz M, Colson P, La Scola B.The Expanding Family of Virophages. VIRUSES. 2016 Nov 23;8(11):317. doi: 10.3390/v8110317. PMID: 27886075; PMCID: PMC5127031. Review. IF-2016: 3.78