Presently, Dr Schuster’s team is developing a new research axis focusing on the relationship between hepatitis C viral infection and human lipid metabolism at the Inserm unit U1110. Using RNAi and yeast-two-hybrid screens, her group recently discovered key host factors required for the HCV life cycle and in particular, demonstrated the role of apolipoprotein E in hepatitis C virus assembly and export. Current research interests include the molecular characterization of virus-host interactions at the level of lipid metabolism and regulation of HCV genome translation. In 2011, Dr. Schuster became an Inserm research director and since 2013 she is the Deputy Head of the Inserm research unit U1110. 
Dr. Schuster was elected a scientific member of the Doctoral School “Vie et Santé” council (ED414) at Strasbourg where she gives lectures at the Master’s level. She was appointed Head of Doctoral School ED414 in 2013.
Dr. Schuster was an expert for the University of Strasbourg at the CSS 65 and 64 from 2000 to 2011. Since 2013, she has been a scientific delegate for the AERES “Evaluation Agency for Research and Higher Education”.

Research in her group is supported by Inserm, the Agence Nationale de Recherches sur le Sida, hépatites virales B et C (ANRS), the “Fondation BNP-Paribas”, the IdEx program of the University of Strasbourg.  

Dr Catherine Schuster undertook her PhD studies at the University of Strasbourg, France. Following the completion of her PhD work in 1991 at the Institut de Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire (IBMC), Strasbourg, France, she joined the group of Prof. B. Ehresmann, IBMC, where she participated in the isolation and functional characterization of a transcription factor involved in the activation of RNA polymerase III- and II-transcribed genes. She obtained a tenured position as a research associate of Inserm in 1995.

In 2000, Dr Schuster joined Dr. M.P Kieny’s team at the Inserm Unit U544, Institut de Virologie de Strasbourg, France, to establish her own research group focusing on hepatitis C virus (HCV) translation and replication. She obtained a Young Scientist Award from the Fondation BNP-Paribas which funded partly her research during 10 years. She determined the secondary structure of the 3’ minus strand end of the viral genome which is crucial for HCV replication, a key development in HCV research. Her group established a clear understanding of the interplay between all HCV non-structural proteins in the viral replication complex. During this period, her group was actively involved in European consortiums established for the development of new HCV vaccines with several adenoviral and vaccinia virus-based vaccine formulations developed for the European consortium community.