4 December 2025 Articles

Prof Koen Vercauteren wins ESCV European Diagnostic Virology Award

Prof Koen Vercauteren (Clinical Virology Unit) has won the ESCV European Diagnostic Virology Award for his contributions to the field of tropical viral infectious diseases, particularly mpox.

At the 27th ESCV Annual Conference, Prof Vercauteren gave a keynote lecture on diagnostic virology in mpox outbreaks in previously non-endemic regions (Belgium) and endemic areas (the Democratic Republic of the Congo).

The European Society for Clinical Virology (ESCV) gathers virologists, scientists and physicians interested in all aspects of clinical virology and aims to promote knowledge of viruses and human viral diseases. Through its annual European Diagnostic Virology Award, the ESCV recognises and honours exceptional contributions in the area of viral diagnosis by junior scientists.

We are pleased to announce that Prof Koen Vercauteren received the 2025 European Diagnostic Virology Award at the 27th ESCV Annual Conference, held in Greece. He was honoured for his contributions to the field of tropical viral infectious diseases, particularly mpox.

At the heart of the work is partnership. Partners from the Pathogen Genomics Laboratory team led by Prof Placide Mbala-Kingebeni at INRB, DRC (Princesse Tshambu Paku, Adrienne Aziza Amuri, Rilia Ola Mpumbe) and colleagues from the Clinical Virology Unit (Tony Wawina, Daan Jansen, Tessa de Block, Pedro Henrique Dantas) come together at ITM during an exchange on mpox virus genomic surveillance.

Since 2019, Prof Vercauteren has headed the Clinical Virology Unit of ITM. Together with his team, he works on:

diagnostic virology for patient care within the Belgian national reference laboratory for the diagnosis of infectious and tropical diseases
the development and validation of molecular assays for the detection and characterisation of high-consequence emerging zoonotic viruses like mpox virus, Ebola virus and Lassa virus
co-creation of metagenomic and viral sequencing capacity with partner laboratories in tropical regions where these viruses are endemic to investigate acute (hemorrhagic) fever etiologies, outbreak pathogens, viral evolution and molecular epidemiology

Leveraging this diagnostic virology and genomic surveillance capacity, the unit engages in multidisciplinary outbreak investigations with experts in pre-clinical research, clinical care, epidemiology, immunology, and ecology. Teaming up with the groups led by Prof Placide Mbala-Kingebeni (INRB, DRC) and Prof Laurens Liesenborghs (Clinical Emerging Infectious Diseases Unit, ITM), this integrated approach helped clarify mpox outbreaks in previously non-endemic regions (e.g., Belgium) and endemic areas (e.g., the Democratic Republic of the Congo), thereby informing clinical recognition, laboratory diagnosis and outbreak response.

Bridging science and partnership - celebrating the relationships behind the joint work with Institut National de Recherche Biomédicale (INRB).

Koen Vercauteren

Prof Koen Vercauteren obtained an MSc in Pharmaceutical Sciences in 2010 and subsequently completed a PhD in preclinical viral hepatitis research (with Profs Philip Meuleman and Geert Leroux-Roels, Ghent University). He continued his academic trajectory as a BAEF postdoctoral fellow at Rockefeller University in New York (Charles M. Rice Laboratory, recipient of the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine), where he continued preclinical virology research. He then pursued his clinical residency in laboratory medicine (clinical microbiology, chemistry, and haematology).

Since 2019, he has been a professor at ITM, head of the Clinical Virology Unit, and a clinical biologist at the ITM Clinical Reference Laboratory. The Clinical Virology Unit currently includes and (co-)promotes six PhD students, four postdoctoral researchers, two laboratory technicians, and has supervised seven MSc students in tropical medicine and public health.

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