Partner 2 Erasmus University Medical Center (Erasmus MC)
Erasmus MC is the largest university medical centre in the Netherlands. The Department of Viroscience at Erasmus MC (see www.virosciencelab.com) employs more than 110 persons of different disciplines and runs an extensive research program on viral infections of humans and animals, with specific interests in viral zoonoses, pathogenesis and transmission and natural and vaccine-induced immunity. There are 6 principal investigators at the professor level, each representing an essential skill in infectious diseases, including professors in 1) General Virology; 2) Molecular Virology; 3) Immunology; 4) Pathology; 5) Epidemiology; 6) Clinical Virology, as well as assistant/associate professors specialized in specific virus fields. Viruses under research include influenza A and B virus, RSV, hMPV, measles virus, coronaviruses, HIV-1, HIV-2, hepatitis A, B and C viruses, West Nile virus, dengue viruses, monkey pox virus, and herpes viruses. The department houses the National Influenza Centre, the national reference centre for emerging viral diseases, and the international reference centre for viral haemorrhagic fevers for WHO. The department has built up an extensive track record in the identification of several novel human viruses, including human metapneumovirus (HMPV), human H5N1 infection in Hong Kong, SARSCoV, hCoV-NL63 and MERS-CoV. In collaboration with the department of Zoology at Cambridge University, UK, the department has developed methods for improving human influenza virus surveillance and vaccine strain selection (2004), which have been adopted by the WHO as an integral part of the annual vaccine strain selection process. The department of Viroscience is the Coordinator of the FP7 large scale integrating projects EMPERIE and ANTIGONE and participates in numerous other FP7 projects of relevance to COMPARE, including the recently started large European clinical research network of PREPARE.