Lead by Mark de Boer and Sebe Myeni

Pathogens & Drugs

This cluster aims to enhance our understanding of pathogen biology and pathogen-host interactions at the molecular, cellular, tissue and organismal level.

This knowledge is crucial for developing efficacious direct-acting drugs and novel host-directed therapeutic strategies, as well as to understand resistance to therapies, to ultimately improve the clinical outcomes for patients. A strong focus is on (re)emerging, neglected as well as on difficult to treat infections that impact global health, including for example coronavirus and arbovirus infections, tuberculosis, helminthiases, biofilm-associated infections, Clostridioides difficile-associated diarrhea. Target-based or phenotypic approaches and -omics technologies are used to identify and improve antimicrobial and antiviral molecules, to elucidate their mechanism of action, and to gain insights into interactions between the pathogen and its host(s) or the environment. Our overall aim is to develop novel strategies to cure or prevent infectious diseases, with the One Health approach and improvement of global health in in mind.