Infection & Immunity

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.

Societal impact 

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.

News

Pallet truck, man and back pain in warehouse with transport.

Mitrochondial disfunction and the immune system are involved in chronic pain

27 November 2024 Read more

A new technology to isolate immunostimulatory members of the human gut microbiota: next-generation IgA-seq

14 November 2024

WKZ in blue light: Beware the dangers of pneumonia for young children

12 November 2024

UMC Utrecht receives grants for research into post-COVID

12 November 2024

Michel van den Heuvel appointed professor of pulmonary diseases

11 November 2024

Our themes

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:

Upcoming events

UMC Utrecht, Stratenum Building

25-01-2025 - 17-02-2025 from 16:08 to 16:00

Boothzaal, Utrecht University Library

06-03-2025 from 09:00 to 16:08

UMC Utrecht, Stratenum Building

24-03-2025 - 28-03-2025 from 16:08 to 16:08

In De Driehoek Congres- en Vergadercentrum

10-04-2025 from 09:00 to 16:30
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Research groups

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 groups

PhD & MSc programs

Our students participate largely in MSc and PhD programs of Infection & immunity and Epidemiology by Utrecht University:

Internships

Interested in doing an internship with us? Please contact our research groups directly.

People behind the program

Marc Bonten

Full Professor

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Linde Meyaard

Full Professor

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Annelies Verbon

Full Professor

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Jovanka Bestebroer

Program manager

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Paul Geurts

Science communication advisor

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