The Institute for Medical Immunology (IMI) has a strong experience in vaccine and infectious disease immunology research. The institute is located on two campuses of the Université libre de Bruxelles, in Brussels and in Charleroi. The site in Brussels hosts the clinical and translational research of the institute. Since 2002, researchers at IMI have explored the fundamental principles of natural and vaccine-induced immunity to pathogens in diverse human populations, including children, pregnant women, elderly and immunocompromised patients.
Integrating classical endpoints of immunogenicity studies with systems analyses of immune responses in vivo in humans, researchers at IMI explore cellular and molecular correlates of immunity to pathogens and mechanisms of action of vaccines. Mechanistic studies of the role of candidate immune pathways are further explored in animal models developed on the Charleroi campus of the institute. The teams are committed to advance our understanding of vaccine induced immunity and to contribute to the assessment of candidate and commercialized vaccines targeting epidemic and endemic pathogens.
The translational and clinical research site of IMI is a 3600 m2 facility, strategically located in Brussels, Belgium. It includes large BSL2 and BSL3 laboratories, multiple technology platforms and a clinical research facility to perform phase II and phase III vaccine studies. Within EPIV, the IMI provides in depth analysis of immune responses to vaccines and pathogens to maximize the information obtained from precious clinical samples collected in CHIM and vaccine studies.
Prof. Dr. Arnaud Marchant obtained his MD from the Université libre de Bruxelles in 1990 and has 25 years’ experience in vaccine and infectious disease immunology research. He teaches medical immunology at the Université libre de Bruxelles and teaches vaccinology in several courses in Belgium and abroad. Arnaud Marchant is Research Director at the Fund for Scientific Research, Belgium, since 2015, and is the director of the Institute for Medical Immunology since 2016.
