Utrecht University (UU) is founded in 1636 and is one of the largest universities in the Netherlands, with over 8000 staff members and 31,600 students. UU has the largest Graduate School in Europe, with over 1750 PhDs only within the Life Sciences Graduate School (GS-LS) – an interdisciplinary and cross-faculty PhD programme. The Faculty of Veterinary Medicine has a unique position in the Netherlands. Not only is this the only institution where veterinarians are trained, researchers are also working together on innovative scientific research. The team of Dr. Nolte-‘t Hoen is situated at the Department of Biomolecular Health Sciences and the division of Infectious Diseases and Immunology. This division is renowned for its expertise in the field of clinical veterinary infectiology, immunology, infection biology, virology, molecular resistance and tick diseases.