Gorben Pijlman

Professor Gorben Pijlman is a leading academic in Arbovirology and Medical Biotechnology at Wageningen University. His research focuses on arbovirus-host interactions, vaccine development, and flavivirus transmission mechanisms. He holds a dual role as head of the Arbovirus group and oversees the university's BSL3 laboratory. His educational background includes an MSc and PhD from Wageningen University, followed by postdoctoral research at the University of Queensland on West Nile virus and flavivirus vectors.

Research interests span fundamental virology (e.g., sfRNA role in Zika/West Nile transmission) and applied studies (e.g., SARS-CoV-2 VLP vaccines within the Prevent-nCoV consortium). Key achievements include developing a chikungunya VLP vaccine and demonstrating mosquito competence for emerging pathogens like Usutu and Zika viruses. His work bridges basic science with clinical applications, addressing global health challenges like coronavirus variants and arbovirus emergence.

Recent studies highlight advancements in nanoparticle vaccine platforms and mosquito vector competence assessments. Collaborations include the University of Queensland and the Bavarian Nordic clinical trials for ABNCoV2. His group’s BSL3 laboratory enables pathogenic arbovirus studies, while training students like Stefan Metz and Amaya Serrano. Future directions include expanding vaccine candidates against variants and studying novel antiviral strategies targeting viral noncoding RNAs.