Eric Cox obtained the degree of Doctor in Veterinary Medicine at UGent in 1983. In 1984 he started studying the pathophysiology of diarrhoea in pigs at the Laboratory of Physiology of the Veterinary Faculty of the University of Antwerp. In 1991, he obtained the degree of Doctor in Veterinary Sciences in 1991 with a PhD thesis entitled "Experimental induction of diarrhoea in newly-weaned piglets and effect of antisecretory drugs". He moved to Gent University to study the immune response against porcine coronavirus at the Laboratory of Virology of UGent. He became appointed associated professor Immunology at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of the Gent University in 1993 where he started the Laboratory of Veterinary Immunology under supervision of Bruno Goddeeris. The focus of the research of the lab was the host-pathogen interaction at the intestinal mucosa and mucosal immune responses that control intestinal infections. The model pathogens in most of this research were Escherichia coli. He became Full Professor in 2010 and Chair of the Department of Virology, Parasitology and Immunology in 2014 with changed to the department of Translational Physiology, Infectiology and Public Health in 2020 (https://www.ugent.be/di/vpi/en). February 2023 Eric Cox was appointed Visiting Professor in Nutritional Physiology (20%) at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Uppsala. His main research areas (https://vetimmunology.ugent.be/Staff/page2/page2.html) include host-pathogen interaction mainly of Escherichia coli (Enterotoxigenic E. coli, Shiga toxin producing E. coli and enterohemorrhagic E. coli) and Toxoplasma gondii. This knowledge is used for the development of new innovative oral vaccination strategies, but also in the development of therapeutic interventions such as sugar-based inhibitors of infection and natural host-derived anti-microbials. Another part of the research of the lab of immunology consist of evaluating and developing new oral adjuvants and the mechanism of food allergy in dogs with the aim to improve desensitization protocols. Eric Cox is also promoter of the Ghent University valorisation consortium PROVAXS (https://www.provaxs.com)
Education
- Doctor in Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University (1983-1983)
- Doctor in Veterinary Sciences, University of Antwerp (1991-1991)
Research Interests
Keywords:
Mucosal immunity E. coli ETEC STEC EHEC Toxoplasmosis Chlamydia sp. Food allergy vaccines
Topics:
Immunology Microbiology Vaccinology Veterinary Medicine
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