Professor Marion Koopmans – Scientific Director of the PDPC – has been appointed Fellow of the European Academy of Microbiology (EAM). The EAM is a community of over 200 leading microbiologists from across Europe and beyond, who are committed to strengthening the visibility, impact, and future of microbial science. The appointment recognizes both her scientific achievements and her contribution to the wider microbiology community.  As an EAM Fellow, Prof. Koopmans will contribute expertise, insight and perspective to scientific discussion and policy dialogue. Together with Fellows...

Updated map Mapping the European infectious disease networks, research consortia, and other initiatives, and their relationship to DURABLE partners The DURABLE consortium brings together the top-class diagnostic and research laboratories in Europe from medical and veterinary fields, that have been drivers of emerging disease preparedness research and diagnostics for the past decades. DURABLE partners have close links to key initiatives in the clinical field, and ongoing research consortia and infrastructures for pandemic preparedness and response. DURABLE has designed a work...

Dear Durable members, We hope this message finds you well. We are reaching out to invite you to the Durable Young –  Coffee & Chats meetings. All interested members, particularly early-career researchers, are welcome to join these informal online meetings to discuss scientific/technical issues, identify shared interests, exchange knowledge, and strengthen connections within the Durable community. The sessions are planned to take place every six weeks, each lasting around one hour on Wednesdays or Fridays (11:00–12:00). ...

Register now for the upcoming webinar of Durable: “Development and Field Deployment of Molecular Detection Assays During Outbreak Situations”.Date: Thursday, March 5 at 2PM – CETRegistration link: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_5nlwcwPCRo6EkCJhngyV7Q Speakers We will have three outstanding speakers: Christian Drosten from Charité, Berlin on “Facing the diagnostic challenges during COVID-19”, Rémi Charrel and Christine Prat from AMU, Marseille, on “Quality control and obtaining/managing positive controls – Deployment of first-line detection tools” This...

We’re excited to announce the One Health Approaches to Study Climate-Sensitive Infectious Diseases Summer School, which will take place 17–28 August 2026 across two inspiring European hubs: 📍 Week 1: Rotterdam, The Netherlands (hosted by @ErasmusMC)📍 Week 2: Heidelberg, Germany (hosted by @Heidelberg University) 🌍 Why join?Climate change and nature-based solutions are reshaping ecosystems—and with them, the dynamics of infectious diseases. This 2-week immersive summer school brings together early-career researchers, students and practitioners to explore One Health approaches at...

Interview with Rory de Vries, virologist of Erasmus MCBird flu vaccine The vaccines had already been declared safe. But because the vaccine has been updated to the latest variant, just like with the annual flu shot, the effectiveness still had to be investigated. There are not yet any concrete plans to distribute the shots. A bird flu vaccine for humans, of which a number of European member states jointly purchased around 665,000 doses last year, probably offers good protection against the virus. This emerges from a Finnish study that was published on Friday in Nature Microbiology,...

On 12 December 2025, Marion Koopmans, researcher and virologist, gave a lecture for the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) at the Trippenhuis in Amsterdam on the possibilities (and dangers) of AI in healthcare. Key messages from this lecture were also reflected in a recent interview with KNAW: “Developments [of AI in healthcare] are moving fast. For example, American researchers, with the help of AI, recently succeeded in writing a genetic code for a new virus that could kill antibiotic-resistant E. coli bacteria. If you could treat diseases more often in this way,...

Artificial intelligence could be a valuable tool for detecting emerging diseases earlier, researchers from five European universities and research institutes argue in The Lancet Infectious Diseases. How to identify the next dangerous virus before it spreads among people is the central question in a new Comment in The Lancet Infectious Diseases. In it, researchers discuss how AI, combined with the One Health approach, can contribute to improved prediction and surveillance.