dr. BHG (Barry) Rockx

Senior Scientist Arboviruses

Dr. Rockx received his PhD from Utrecht University in 2004 for studies on Norovirus susceptibility and antibody responses. Following his PhD, In the USA he initially worked on the evolution and pathogenesis of SARS-CoV and the development of broadly reactive therapeutic antibodies as a post-doctoral fellow at the University of North Carolina. He subsequently joined the Laboratory of Virology at the Rocky Mountain Laboratories of the National Institutes of Health in Montana where he studied the pathogenesis and vaccine development of SARS-CoV, Influenza, Henipaviruses and Filoviruses in a range of animal models under biosafety level 4. He continued this line of research as a tenure-track Assistant Professor at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Texas.

In 2014, Dr. Rockx returned to The Netherlands as Head of the Department of Rare and Emerging Viral Infections and Response at the Center for Infectious Disease Control of the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment in Bilthoven. He subsequently moved to the Department of Viroscience at the Erasmus MC in Rotterdam, where he was Head of the Exotic viruses workgroup.

Since 2022 Dr. Rockx is a Senior Scientist and projectleader at the Department of Virology & Molecular Biology at Wageningen Bioveterinary Research (WBVR). In addition, Dr. Rockx is Expert Team lead on Vector-borne viruses at WBVR. The research in the vector-borne virus team of WBVR focuses on understanding and controlling vector-borne viral diseases of veterinary and public health concern, such as Rift Valley fever, bluetongue and tick-borne encephalitis virus. The team is specialized in i) diagnostics and surveillance to detect and monitor pathogens ii) studying vector-virus-host interactions to explore how viruses cause disease and spread between vectors (like mosquitoes, midges and ticks) and vertebrate hosts, and iii) developing arboviral countermeasures such as vaccines. Furthermore, experimental data is used in transmission modeling and risk assessments to help predict outbreaks and evaluate the impact of various intervention strategies, aiding in veterinary and public health preparedness and response.

Research lines
His main research lines involve studies on the tropism, pathogenesis and host responses of emerging zoonotic viruses causing hemorrhagic, respiratory and neurological diseases, including orthohantaviruses and arboviruses in a variety of in vitro and in vivo models. He has authored over 100 peer-reviewed scientific publications, several book chapters and has supervised several post-doctoral fellows and PhD students.