Eva-Maria Schönborn started as a PhD student in the group "Antiviral and Antivirulence Agents" under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Martin Empting in January 2025. After her training as a chemical laboratory assistant and a bachelor's degree in Applied Chemistry with a focus on Pharmaceutical Technology at the University of Applied Sciences in Kaiserslautern, she continued her studies with a master's degree in Applied Life Sciences. During her master's program, she gained experience at Novartis in Austria and completed her master's thesis at the HIPS, in which she investigated pathoblockers that specifically inhibit LasB in Pseudomonas aeruginosa and collagenases in Clostridium perfringens.

Her current research focuses on the development of new anti-herpesviral agents. Her goal is to inhibit the interaction of viral DNA with the latency-associated nuclear antigen (LANA) of the Kaposi's sarcoma-herpesvirus (KSHV). She is using the innovative concept of proteolysis targeting chimeras (PROTACs) to develop novel therapeutic approaches.