Bert Devriendt is an assistant professor in Mucosal Immunology at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at Ghent University. He received his PhD in Veterinary Sciences in 2010 at the laboratory of Immunology at Ghent University. He has a long-standing research interest focused on the interactions of enterotoxigenic E. coli strains with the gut epithelium and the intestinal immune system in piglets and how the gained insights might accelerate oral vaccine development. He contributed to 70 publication in peer-reviewed journals.
As an experienced mucosal immunologist with a PhD in Veterinary Sciences my research group investigates host-pathogen interactions with a main focus on enterotoxigenic E. coli and the intestinal immune system in a piglet model. The gained insights are used to accelerate the design of an oral vaccine platform. In this context we're interested in antibody engineering and production, antibody-mediated strategies to enhance transport of biologicals across the gut epithelium as well as in the functionalisation of vaccine antigen-loaded nano- and microparticles. On top of that I am also interested in the interaction of viral pathogens with innate immune cells, like Natural Killer cells and plasmacytoid dendritic cells.