Katholieke Universiteit (KU) Leuven is currently by far the largest university in Belgium in terms of research funding and expenditure (EUR 476 million in 2018), and is a charter member of LERU. KU Leuven conducts fundamental and applied research in all academic disciplines with a clear international orientation. KU Leuven is ranked 14th European university in the Times Higher Education ranking and first European university in the Reuters Top 100 of the World’s most innovative institutions, for the fourth year in a row. KU Leuven employs 7,296 researchers on its academic staff (2018). KU Leuven has a well-experienced technology transfer office, KU Leuven Research & Development (LRD), that consists of a multidisciplinary team of experts to guide researchers in their applied research and the interaction with industry and society, and the valorisation of their research results (124 spin off companies).
The Department of Microbiology and Immunology consists of 15 laboratories including the Rega Institute for Medical Research and focuses on the study, prevention and treatment of important diseases caused by viruses, bacteria, fungi and parasites, and the study of complex host-microbiome interaction. The Rega Institute has long-standing expertise in technologies for microbiological, biochemical, immunological, and cell biological in silico, in vitro and in vivo research using animal models and clinical specimens. The Genomics and Nucleomics Core facilities are knowledge and technology platforms facilitating access to different sequencing technologies and expertise in sequence analyses and data processing. For our bioinformatics analyses we have access to the Flemish Supercomputer Center.