The research activities of Hermans and his team have a predominantly translational profile. The pathogenesis, immunology and epidemiology of paediatric infectious diseases are the central research themes. In close collaboration with various laboratories and medical departments, nationally and internationally, the team aims to improve the molecular and clinical understanding of the biology of infectious diseases. In the field of microbial pathogenesis, the molecular interaction between host and microorganism is studied in detail. The research team has great experience in the molecular microbiology and microbial genetics of Streptococcus pneumoniae. Bacterial genomic fingerprinting, genomic array footprinting, transcriptional- and proteome profiling of both the microbial pathogen and the infected host, high-throughput protein identification, Streptococcus pneumoniae virulence - and vaccination studies in various animal models, and functional analyses of bacterial proteins are carried out within a variety of research projects. The team has recently expanded its activities towards respiratory tract infections caused by Moraxella catarrhalis, Haemophilus influenzae and Staphylococcus aureus. The work aims to develop and improve tools to diagnose, treat and prevent these bacterial infections. In addition, the research team investigates the mechanisms underlying the severity of the clinical manifestations during viral respiratory tract infections in otherwise healthy children using microarray analysis, protein profiling and functional studies of peripheral blood and nasopharyngeal and bronchoalveolar fluids combined with immunological analyses. These research activities are expected to contribute to the development of innovative tools for the early diagnosis and monitoring of viral respiratory tract infections.