Professor Debby Bogaert

Group Members

• Carlos Balcazar Lopes - Research Assistant
• Justyna Binkowska - PhD student
• Melanie Clerc - Postdoc
• Filipa Henderson Sousa - Postdoc
• Lillian Koppensteiner - Research Assistant
• Chikondi Peno - PhD student
• Alicia Ruiz Rodriguez - Postdoc
• Kadi Vaher - PhD student
• Rebecca Watson - Research Assistant
• Paula Lusarreta Parga - visiting BSc student

Background

Respiratory infections are a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in children worldwide. The respiratory and bacterial pathogens causing these infections are actually common colonizers of the upper respiratory tract as well, living mostly in full harmony with the host. The reason why in one child colonization with those pathogens is followed by disease, and in others not, is not fully understood.

Research Overview

My research group has a major focus on investigating the physiology and pathophysiology of respiratory infections and inflammation from an ecological perspective, with the ultimate goal to design new or improved treatment and preventive measures for respiratory infections in susceptible populations. To this purpose, the team uses a fully translational approach, combining epidemiological, molecular microbiological, immunological and systems biology approaches to answer their research questions. Moreover, we execute mechanistic studies in vitro and in vivo. I still have a research team in Utrecht, the Netherlands, working on continuation of several birth cohorts and clinical studies.

The following PDF provides a brief visual summary of this group’s current research.

You can view a full catalogue of graphical research summaries for each group in the Centre for Inflammation Research by visiting our Research page.

Visit CIR’s Research page

Biographical Profile

Professor Bogaert joined the Centre for Inflammation Research in September 2016. Since 2008 she worked as a physician scientist at the Department of Pediatric Immunology of the UMC Utrecht, The Netherlands, where she initiated several ecological studies of the upper respiratory tract microbiome in relation to pathogenesis and prevention of respiratory infections. A Veni and Vidi career grant (NWO) and Top grant (ZonMW) led to the validation and adaptation of a metagenomic pipeline for analysis of low-density respiratory microbiota, the set-up of applied bioinformatic methods and the first analyses of environmental effects on such microbiota including mode of delivery, breastfeeding and outcome. Furthermore, she participates in and facilitates microbiological and immunological research projects linked to clinical studies.

She worked from 2006 to 2008 as a postdoctoral fellow (Professor M Lipsitch and Professor R Malley, Harvard School of Public Health/Boston Children’s Hospital) where she executed in vitro and animal studies on susceptibility of infants to pneumococcal colonization and infection, with specific emphasis on host-immunity.

She obtained her PhD degree cum laude from the Erasmus University in Rotterdam, Netherlands (Supervisors: Professor R de Groot, Professor PWM Hermans, 1999-2004), for her studies on pathogenesis of pneumococcal infections, focusing on (molecular) epidemiology of bacterial colonization of the upper respiratory tract. Amongst others, she was one of the first to obtain epidemiological evidence for in vivo bacterial interactions occurring at the nasopharyngeal niche.

In parallel, she was also trained as a pediatrician at the Sophia Children's Hospital in Rotterdam, obtaining her licence in 2006. She obtained her licence as Paediatric Infectious Diseases and Immunology Specialist at the Wilhelmina Children’s Hospital, Utrecht in 2014.

Honours and Awards

• 2016 Scottish Senior Clinical Fellowship
• 2015 Dutch NWO Vidi laureate
• 2009 Dutch NWO Veni laureate
• 2006 Dutch KNAW ter meulen fund award
• 2004 NVK young investigator award

Alumni

• Dr Cassandra Krone (Post-doctoral research fellow, University of Birmingham)
• Dr Giske Biesbroek (Paediatric trainee, Amsterdam Medical Center)
• Dr Sabine Prevaes (Paediatrician, University Medical Center, Utrecht)
• Dr Astrid Bosch (Junior Clinical Fellow in General Paediatric, Birmingham Children’s Hospital)

Other responsibilities

• Scientific committee member of the World Society for Paediatric Infectious Diseases (WSPID)
• Editorial board member of the journal ‘Pneumonia’

Collaborators

• Dr James Boardman
• Professor Jurgen Schwarze
• Professor David Dockrell
• Dr Daniella Ferreira (Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool)
• Professor Octavio Ramilo and Dr Asun Mejias (University of Columbus, Ohio, US)
• Professor E Sanders (National institute of Health and the Environs, Bilthoven, Netherlands)
• Dr M van Houten (Spaarne Academy, Hoofddorp, NL)

Funding

Scottish Funding Council

More information on funding at Debby Bogaert's Research Explorer profile.