Immunology

The immune system has to perform a daily balancing act between maintaining homeostasis and protecting against invading pathogens

Our research may contribute to solving problems of increasing global food demands, antibiotic resistance and increasing threats and burden caused by infectious and chronic inflammatory diseases. Applied aspects of the work relate to animal tuberculosis, avian influenza, canine atopic dermatitis, human autoimmune diseases, vaccine development and vaccine consistency testing.

Immunity to Microbes within the Cell
How does the immune system react to microbes within the cell? We explore the cellular mechanisms responsible for immune recognition of viruses and bacteria (pathogens) within the cell for the development of vaccines against microbes.

Chronic Inflammatory Diseases
Our research focuses on immuno-modulation of chronic inflammatory diseases such as atopic dermatitis and ocular inflammation (uveitis) in dogs, rheumatoid arthritis and allergies in humans.

Veterinary Immunology

We focus on avian, bovine en cacine immunology. Improving the immune protection through effective vaccines is highly important.

Porcine immunology
What do we know about the immune system in pigs? How does it develop? Can we improve the pig immune system via a special diet? Are pigs a good model to study certain human diseases?

Wildlife Immunology
Wildlife species, both free roaming and captive, at the human – livestock – wildlife interphase are amongst others prone to infection with mycobacteria of the Mycobacterium Tuberculosis Complex (MTBC) due to which they may develop tuberculosis.