The Strategic Program Infection & Immunity is a leading platform in the field of inflammatory and infectious diseases and immune-mediated therapy. We continuously focus on developing and improving the treatment of patients with difficult-to-manage infections, immune diseases or cancer.
Diseases due to failure of the immune system or infections represent a major human and societal burden, linked with high mortality, disability, lifelong treatments, and considerable costs. According to recent WHO estimates, three of the ten leading global causes of death are I&I-related: lower respiratory infection (2.6 M/yr), neonatal infections (2 M/yr) and diarrheal diseases (1.5 M/yr). In addition, with an increasing global population and an aging society, the incidence of arthritis and other immune-mediated inflammatory diseases are increasing worldwide, causing significant disability and costs for society. Moreover, antimicrobial resistance poses a major public health threat, causing significant mortality (up to 5 M/yr). Finally, tumor immunology research has resulted in new therapeutics such as immunotherapy, saving hundreds of thousands lives each year.
The strategic program Infection & Immunity (I&I) concentrates its efforts mostly on hard-to-manage infections, (auto-)inflammatory disorders, and tumor immunology in order to answer the unmet medical requirements of diseases associated to infection and failing immunity.
Our research combines fundamental science with clinic applications through a strong translational approach. We focus on four research themes:
Our Strategic Program hosts over 500 researchers dedicated to Infection & Immunity research. They work together in research groups to accelerate the results of their projects.
Discover our research groupsOur students participate largely in MSc and PhD programs of Infection & immunity and Epidemiology by Utrecht University:
