Professor Stern-Ginossar's laboratory develops and harnesses novel high throughput approaches in combination with a variety of molecular tools to tackle unexplored aspects of gene regulation during infection, and to perform detailed analyses of central facets of infection biology, which have been difficult to address before. Viruses are obligate intracellular parasites with complex and dynamic interactions with their cellular hosts. As exemplified by the devastating consequences of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, deciphering these interactions is of great importance. The experiments performed in Professor Stern-Ginossar's laboratory identified processes whose targeting can help in blocking viral infection.

Stern-Ginossar's lab initially interrogates these complex interactions using mainly cytomegalovirus (CMV), a herpesvirus that infects the majority of the world's population, leading to severe diseases in newborns and immunocompromised adults. With the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic,  Noam's laboratory directed its resources and technologies to understanding this virus.

Her research shed light on the virus's arsenal of proteins and the virus's ability to regulate gene expression in infected cells and evade detection by the immune system. This line of research brought us closer to understanding the mechanisms that viruses use to take over our cells, an important milestone in our preparation for future epidemics.