For the rational design and development of effective and safe preventive and therapeutic intervention strategies for microbial infections of humans and animals, understanding of the host-microbe interaction at the cellular and molecular levels is of critical importance. In the last decades knowledge about this interaction and about intervention strategies for viral infections have increased considerably but our knowledge is far from complete. By applying genomics and bioinformatics tools the VIRGO knowledge project is aiming at breakthroughs in the understanding of immune mediated protection as well as immune mediated pathogenesis after infection or vaccination. The VIRGO consortium brings together expertise in (molecular) virology, transcriptomics, proteomics, bioinformatics and molecular modelling. Genomics tools will be implemented in experiments at three levels: target cell, animal model and natural host. Interpretation of the data and extraction of information is aimed at identifying “key-player genes” and regulatory pathways. This analysis will enhance by studying the host response in different species (human, mouse, macaque and chicken) to assess related strains of viruses in integrated approaches.

A schematic representation of the application of genomics tools in research on the virus-host interaction.