The mission of the VIRGO project is the rational design of vaccination and other intervention strategies for respiratory virus infections. Respiratory virus infections are among the primary causes of death in humans and animals, causing considerable suffering and economic losses worldwide. The few intervention methods that are currently available for respiratory virus infections have a limited effectiveness. With the aid of genomics tools the VIRGO consortium will study the virus-host interaction with a special focus on the mechanism of induction of innate and specific immune responses and their association with protection and disease. These studies will provide a knowledge basis for the design of preventive and therapeutic strategies for (respiratory) infections.

The VIRGO Consortium is a strategic collaboration of 14 research groups originating from four universities and three pharmaceutical companies. The VIRGO consortium is a research consortium established under the auspices of the Netherlands Genomics Initiative and is funded by the BSIK program, a Dutch research encouragement program of Senter/Novem, a Dutch Ministry of Economics agency