Every year, the Ulmer Universitätsgesellschaft (UUG) awards prizes to outstanding graduates from Ulm University. We congratulate Dr. hum. biol. Clarissa Read (formerly Villinger) to this excellent achievement. She conducted her PhD project as a collaborative study between the Institute of Virology in the group of Prof. Thomas Mertens and Jun. Prof. Jens von Einem and the Central Facility for Electron Microscopy headed by Prof. Paul Walther. In her dissertation entitled “Ultrastructural Characterization of Human Cytomegalovirus Morphogenesis and Egress”, Clarissa characterized the infection of cells using advanced electron microscopy imaging and sample preparation techniques. Analyzing specific mutants of the human cytomegalovirus (HCMV), she contributed significantly to the understanding of the morphogenesis of the virus. Furthermore, she applied focused ion beam-scanning electron microscopy (FIB-SEM) tomography to reveal highly complex virus-induced intranuclear membrane structures in detail and in three dimensions (see Figure 2). Her research proves that she is both an excellent virologist and an expert in electron microscopy. Since she continues working for both institutions as a postdoc, CRC 1279 will benefit from her great expertise also in the future.