Prof. Jaap Wagenaar is professor of Clinical Infectiology. His research looks at how micro-organisms move from animals to humans. He also researches the growing resistance of bacteria against antibiotics. Animals and humans are constantly plagued by micro-organisms, which can rapidly replicate and spread. They evolve in order to resist the effects of medication, so a constant race is in progress. Wagenaar looks for ways to stay one step ahead of these disease incarnations.

“INFECTIOUS DISEASES HAVE AN ENORMOUS IMPACT ON SOCIETY”

The outcomes of Wagenaar’s research will help provide treatments and methods of fighting back against infectious diseases. Fighting micro-organisms that move from animals to humans requires collaboration between veterinary medicine and ‘human medicine’. That’s one reason why the university’s collaboration with the University Medical Center Utrecht is so important. Infectious diseases cause social, economic and public health problems, and growing antibiotic resistance threatens to make diseases untreatable, so Wagenaar’s research has a major impact on society.