Manouk Vrieling obtained her veterinary degree from Utrecht University in 2012, followed by a PhD in Microbiology and Immunology at the University Medical Center Utrecht in 2016. During her PhD, she studied the species specificity of staphylococcal toxins (leukocidins) and investigated their potential as vaccine targets for bovine Staphylococcus aureus mastitis. In 2017, she moved to Edinburgh (UK) to work as a Post-doctoral Research Fellow at The Roslin Institute. Here, she studied the pathogenesis, evolution and niche adaptation of S. aureus using a combination of lab-based techniques and whole genome sequencing.

Manouk joined Wageningen Bioveterinary Research in the summer of 2019 as a Molecular Microbiology Researcher. She is particularly interested in how bacteria adapt to novel environments and interact with the immune system of their host(s). Her research at WBVR will focus on host-pathogen interactions in Streptococcus suis infections. The major aim of her research is to unravel the strategies S. suis employs to become pathogenic and cause invasive disease in pigs.

PIGSS2020 https://www.pigss-horizon2020.eu/