Immunology plays an ever increasing role in public health issues and in modern clinical practice. In this age of emerging infections we need to understand principles of immunity to microbial pathogens such as influenza, malaria, TB, HCV or HIV to be able to design and test novel vaccines. In the clinic we are confronted with a growing number of patients that have compromised immunity because of primary immune deficiencies, bone marrow or solid organ transplantation, cancer therapy and increasingly because of old age.

In the Western world allergy and auto immune diseases are still on the rise which calls for top quality basic science on molecular mechanisms of immune regulation to understand its immune pathology and for development of novel immune based interventions.

The first products of immunological research have been introduced in the clinic in immune therapy for cancer and rheumatoid arthritis, but there is a vast potential that still needs to be explored for treatment of Graft versus Host disease and other auto immune diseases. Lastly immunology plays a growing role in the new field of regenerative medicine.

In the department of Immunology a balanced mix of basic and translational research is performed in collaboration with the various institutes at the Uithof campus, including pharmaceutical companies, and with many national and international laboratories. Our staff is heavily involved in teaching of medical students and bachelor, master and PhD students in Biomedical Sciences.