Institut Pasteur researchers received by the minister in charge of research

Source: Government of French Polynesia

The Minister of the Green Economy, in charge of Research, Tearii Alpha, met Wednesday afternoon with Drs Anavaj Sakuntabhai, Director of the Laboratory of Functional Genetics of Infectious Diseases, and Lluis Quintana-Murci, Director of the Laboratory of Human Evolutionary Genetics of the Pasteur Institute, currently hosted at the Louis Malardé Institute (ILM).

Beyond the long-standing collaborations with ILM, on the topic of arboviroses which have been the subject of a review, new opportunities for collaboration in the field of research and public health in French Polynesia have been mentioned.

The contribution to local research, such as genetic studies, increased surveillance of infectious diseases, support for the creation of a bio-bank and, ultimately, that of a health center will be noted. Polynesian biological resource to centralize, structure and organize the storage, access and use, for research purposes, biological resources collected in Polynesia, whether human, animal or plant origin.

Support for the search for funding, particularly from the European Union and the National Institute of Health (USA), the access opportunities of Polynesian teams to the technical platform of the Institut Pasteur and to the training and and the cooperation with the research institutions to which Drs Sakuntabhai and Qunitana-Murci are also affiliated, Kyoto University (Japan), Mc Gill University (Canada), were also mentioned.

All of these projects will be discussed with stakeholders during this mission.

EDITOR'S NOTE: This article is a translation. Please forgive us should the grammar and / or sentence structure not be perfect.