My doctoral project will focus on viral pathogen discovery, primarily utilising the VIDISCA method developed by Dr. Lia van der Hoek at the AMC. Despite the availability of accurate diagnostic tests for many viruses, a significant proportion of suspected viral disease cases in humans cannot be assigned to a known pathogen, and remain undiagnosed. Undiscovered viruses are suspected to be responsible for part of this disease burden, necessitating targeted discovery approaches. I will identify viruses in available biobanks at the AMC, simultaneously studying the whole virome of patients and controls to identify patterns that underlie health. In a separate line of investigation, I will utilise molecular biology methods to capture and identify insect-vectored pathogens of relevance to human and animal health directly from homogenised insect samples.