Lead by Simon Jochems and Anna Roukens
Innovative Vaccinology
This cluster aims to improve the impact of vaccinations against infectious diseases worldwide, and to contribute to the development of novel vaccines against bacterial, parasitic and viral infections.
Our focus ranges from vaccine target discovery to conducting translational studies on dose-sparing and alternative administration routes, and obtaining mechanistic insights into the development of immunity upon vaccination. Innovative approaches such as controlled human infection models, tractable in vitro lymphoid culture models and minimally-invasive lymph node sampling are used to understand how vaccines work and could be improved. A focus of this cluster is to improve vaccine responses in populations at risk, such as elderly, people with primary and secondary immunodeficiencies and people living in low income countries.