Virology Division

The Virology Division of the Department of Infectious Diseases and Immunology, is a research group of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of the Utrecht University in the Netherlands.

Our research focuses on the molecular biology, pathogenesis and epidemiology of positive stranded RNA viruses.

NEWS

• Dr. Marne Hagemeijer receives Westerdijk Award 2012 for best PhD Thesis.

Dr. Marne Hagemeijer received his PhD title in oktober 2011. He worked at the virology division under supervision of dr. Xander de Haan. He was part of the High Potential program of the UU (in collaboration with Fulvio Reggiori). His PhD thesis is called: 'Dynamics of the Coronavirus Replicative Structure'. The NVvM/NVMM science committee awarded this PhD thesis on 16 th of April with the Westerdijk Award 2012 for the best PhD thesis in the field of (medical) microbiology or infectious diseases.
The award is named after Johanna Westerdijk. She was appointed professor at the University of Utrecht in 1917 and was the first female professor in the Netherlands. She was director of the phytopathology laboratory Willie Commelin Scholten and showed that the elm disease (generally known as dutch elm disease) was caused by the fungus Ceratocystis ulmi.

• Subsidy granted for NWO project

Dr. Xander de Haan has been granted an NWO ALW project subsidy for his project: “Influenza A virus entry into cells: many roads lead to Rome". The subsidy is for the amount of €260,000, which he hopes will allow him to gain more insight into the various ways flu viruses can penetrate host cells. Influenza A viruses cause diseases such as the flu in humans and animals. Every virus infection begins with the virus penetrating the host cells. Influenza A viruses do so by using various 'endycytotic pathways'. The researchers will map out these routes and study under which circumstances they are used.