About Prof. R.A.M. (Ron) Fouchier
Introduction
I received a PhD in Medicine from University of Amsterdam in 1995 for studies on HIV and continued to study HIV as a post-doctoral fellow at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia, from 1995 - 1998.
I subsequently started a new group to study the molecular biology of respiratory viruses, in particular influenza A virus, at the Viroscience Department of Erasmus MC Rotterdam. As a fellow of the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences, I studied influenza virus zoonoses and pathogenicity. Achievements of my team include the identification and characterization of several "new" viruses; the human metapneumovirus (hMPV), human coronavirus NL63, the SARS coronavirus (SARS-CoV), the MERS coronavirus (MERS-CoV), and a new influenza A virus subtype (H16). I am alumni member of the "Young Academy" of the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences, elected member of the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences, member of the Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities, recipient of the 2006 Heine-Medin award of the European Society for Clinical Virology and the 2013 Huibregtsen prize for top innovative science with societal impact. I co-authored more than 350 publications that have been cited ~30,000 times. I am an editor for several infectious disease journals, and member of advisory committees for Dutch government and (international) scientific organisations and conferences. My group is part of an NIH/NIAID Center of Excellence for Influenza Research, and participates in several WHO working groups.
My research is further funded by several EU programs and Dutch and US government.
Field(s) of expertise
Education and career
1990 - 1995: PhD medicine. University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Thesis: Molecular determinants of HIV-1 phenotype
1984 - 1988: BSc Microbiology. State College of Agriculture, Wageningen, The Netherlands
2007 - present: Professor, Molecular Virology, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, NL
2006 - 2007: Associate professor, Molecular Virology, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, NL
2003 - 2007: Chief Technology Officer, ViroNovative B.V. (0.1 fte), Rotterdam, NL
2000 - 2004: Fellow of the Royal Dutch Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW), NL
1998 - present: Senior scientist, dept. Viroscience, Erasmus MC Rotterdam, NL
1995 - 1998: Post-doc, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, dept. Microbiology, Philadelphia, PA, USA
1990 - 1995: PhD student, Dept. Clinical Viro-Immunology, CLB, University of Amsterdam, NL
1988 - 1990: Technician, Dept. Clinical Viro-Immunology, CLB, University of Amsterdam, NL
Publications
Role for migratory wild birds in the global spread of avian influenza H5N8.
Global Consortium for H5N8 and Related Influenza Viruses (Lycett SJ, Bodewes R, Pohlmann A, Banks J, Bányai K, Boni MF, Bouwstra R, Breed AC, Brown IH, Chen H, Dán A, DeLiberto TJ, Diep N, Gilbert M, Hill S, Ip HS, Ke CW, Kida H, Killian ML, Koopmans MP, Kwon JH, Lee DH, Lee YJ, Lu L, Monne I, Pasick J, Pybus OG, Rambaut A, Robinson TP, Sakoda Y, Zohari S, Song CS, Swayne DE, Kim Torchett M, Tsai HJ, Fouchier RA, Beer M, Woolhouse M, Kuiken T). (2016). Science. 2016 Oct 14;354(6309):213-217.
Antibody landscapes after influenza virus infection or vaccination.
Fonville JM, Wilks SH, James SL, Fox A, Ventresca M, Aban M, Xue L, Jones TC, Le NM, Pham QT, Tran ND, Wong Y, Mosterin A, Katzelnick LC, Labonte D, Le TT, van der Net G, Skepner E, Russell CA, Kaplan TD, Rimmelzwaan GF, Masurel N, de Jong JC, Palache A, Beyer WE, Le QM, Nguyen TH, Wertheim HF, Hurt AC, Osterhaus AD, Barr IG, Fouchier RA, Horby PW, Smith DJ. Science. 346:996-1000 (2014).
Identification, characterization, and natural selection of mutations driving airborne transmission of A/H5N1 virus.
Linster M, van Boheemen S, de Graaf M, Schrauwen EJ, Lexmond P, Mänz B, Bestebroer TM, Baumann J, van Riel D, Rimmelzwaan GF, Osterhaus AD, Matrosovich M, Fouchier RA, Herfst S. Cell. 2014 Apr 10;157(2):329-39.
Role of receptor binding specificity in influenza A virus transmission and pathogenesis.
de Graaf M, Fouchier RA. EMBO J. 2014 Apr 16;33(8):823-41.
Substitutions near the receptor binding site determine major antigenic change during influenza virus evolution.
Koel BF, Burke DF, Bestebroer TM, van der Vliet S, Zondag GC, Vervaet G, Skepner E, Lewis NS, Spronken MI, Russell CA, Eropkin MY, Hurt AC, Barr IG, de Jong JC, Rimmelzwaan GF, Osterhaus AD, Fouchier RA, Smith DJ. Science. 2013 Nov 22;342(6161):976-9.
Limited airborne transmission of H7N9 influenza A virus between ferrets.
Richard M, Schrauwen EJ, de Graaf M, Bestebroer TM, Spronken MI, van Boheemen S, de Meulder D, Lexmond P, Linster M, Herfst S, Smith DJ, van den Brand JM, Burke DF, Kuiken T, Rimmelzwaan GF, Osterhaus AD, Fouchier RA. Nature. 2013 Sep 26;501(7468):560-3.
Isolation of a novel coronavirus from a man with pneumonia in Saudi Arabia.
Zaki AM, van Boheemen S, Bestebroer TM, Osterhaus AD, Fouchier RA. N Engl J Med. 2012 Nov 8;367(19):1814-20.
The potential for respiratory droplet-transmissible A/H5N1 influenza virus to evolve in a mammalian host.
Russell CA, Fonville JM, Brown AE, Burke DF, Smith DL, James SL, Herfst S, van Boheemen S, Linster M, Schrauwen EJ, Katzelnick L, MosterÃ_n A, Kuiken T, Maher E, Neumann G, Osterhaus AD, Kawaoka Y, Fouchier RA, Smith DJ. Science. 2012 Jun 22;336(6088):1541-7.
Airborne transmission of influenza A/H5N1 virus between ferrets.
Herfst S, Schrauwen EJ, Linster M, Chutinimitkul S, de Wit E, Munster VJ, Sorrell EM, Bestebroer TM, Burke DF, Smith DJ, Rimmelzwaan GF, Osterhaus AD, Fouchier RA. Science. 2012 Jun 22;336(6088):1534-41.
Discordant antigenic drift of neuraminidase and hemagglutinin in H1N1 and H3N2 influenza viruses.
Sandbulte MR, Westgeest KB, Gao J, Xu X, Klimov AI, Russell CA, Burke DF, Smith DJ, Fouchier RA, Eichelberger MC. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2011 Dec 20;108(51):20748-53.
A complete overview of publications can be found here:
Scholarships, grants, and awards
2016: Member of the Royal Dutch Academy of Arts and Sciences
2014 - present: Thomson Reuters Highly Cited Researcher
2015: Member of the Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities
2013: Huibregtsenprijs for top innovative science with societal impact
2012: Friedrich Loeffler lecture, Greifwald Germany
2012: Elected Time Magazine “The 100 Most Influential People in the World”
2010: Special recognition award from NIAID/NIH for extraordinary work on H1N1 influenza
2008: NWO VICI laureate
2006: Heine-Medin award of the European Society for Clinical Virology
2005: Junior member of the Royal Dutch Academy of Arts and Sciences (Jonge Akademie)
2003: James H. Nakano citation for outstanding scientific paper from NCID/CDC, USA
2000: KNAW Fellowship (VIDI predecessor)
Research funding (current)
STW grant (oncolytic viro-immunotherapy)
EU Horizon 2020 program Delta-flu (molecular biology of avian influenza)
EU Horizon 2020 program VetBioNet (BSL3 infrastructure network)
US HHS/BARDA contract (antigenic drift, vaccines)
US NIH/NIAID contract “Center of Excellence for Influenza research” (influenza)
EU Horizon 2020 program Compare (next generation sequencing)
Support Casper grant (oncolytic viro-immunotherapy)
