"Huge potential for collaborative research in Brazil"

The International Vice President of the Pasteur Institute speaks about opportunities for collaboration and the organization's global research network.

By Samuel Antenor

Agência FAPESP – The Pasteur Institute is an international organization dedicated to studying and combating infectious diseases, with 130 years of tradition in scientific research. Its long history of achievements includes the first anti-rabies vaccine, produced by Louis Pasteur himself in 1885, and discoveries crucial to the control of diseases such as diphtheria, tetanus, tuberculosis, poliomyelitis, influenza, yellow fever and epidemic plague. It was also the first institution to isolate HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

The Pasteur Institute is a private nonprofit organization, with more than 130 laboratories and some 2,700 researchers working in Paris, 600 of whom are scientists visiting from 70 countries annually. Ten of its scientists have been awarded Nobel Prizes.

Its labs and research departments cover the following areas: structural biology and chemistry, developmental and stem cell biology, cell biology and infection, immunology, infection and epidemiology, genomes and genetics, microbiology, insect vectors, parasitology and mycology, neuroscience, and virology.

In addition to its activities in France, the Pasteur Institute’s international network (RIIP) comprises 32 research and public health labs on five continents.

Marc Jouan, International Vice President of the Pasteur Institute and Secretary-General of RIIP, visited Brazil in December to discuss opportunities for collaborative research between Brazilian and international institutions.

Jouan, who specializes in infectious diseases and has worked at research institutions in China, the US and France, also visited FAPESP’s headquarters in the city of São Paulo. In an interview with Agência FAPESP, he spoke about RIIP, opportunities for collaboration, and the work of the Pasteur Institute.

Agência FAPESP – How would you describe the potential for collaboration between the Pasteur Institute and institutions in countries like Brazil on research to further knowledge of infectious diseases?
Marc Jouan – Incredible progress has been made in the field of health over the past 100 years, but we continue to face daunting challenges. Almost all the Pasteur Institute’s activities are conducted in collaboration with teams belonging to its international network and with other institutions around the world. In Brazil, the potential for collaborative research is huge, and we want to build on the partnerships that already exist. Health sciences are currently experiencing a revolution, and Brazilian researchers’ savoir-faire in genomics, biodiversity and climate change as it affects global health, as well as the development of science networks, has clearly been driven by institutions like FAPESP, for example, in the recent past. The capacity to perform genome sequencing with ease raises the need to analyze the enormous amount of data generated, with the help of bioinformatics.

Agência FAPESP – Which research areas currently require most attention?
Jouan – An important discovery is the role of intestinal microbiota in individual health, although microbiology, parasitology, virology and immunology remain the primary research areas for our institutes. We espouse the same ideals as Louis Pasteur: research, public health and teaching. We also study non-transmissible diseases such as cancer and metabolic disorders, and we place special emphasis on neuroscience programs, which must be expanded because they’re facing some of the heftiest global health challenges. In public health the network undertakes many activities and projects worldwide. For example, we aim to strengthen the role of the institute in Dakar, Senegal, where remarkable work is being done to combat the Ebola virus. Another example is the study of antibiotic resistance in children in low-income countries.

Agência FAPESP – How is the RIIP network structured around the world and how does it operate?
Jouan – Our international network comprises 32 units: six in sub-Saharan Africa, nine in East Asia, five in the Americas, seven in Europe, and five in the Maghreb and Iran. They’re highly diverse: several are public institutions that partner with health or science ministries, while others are private nonprofits. What they all share is research, teaching, technology transfer, and a permanent scientific network. This is assured mainly through joint projects, research consortia, and mobility of researchers and students. A good example is the study of malaria drug resistance in 37 countries. This project began with a joint paper published in Nature by the Pasteur Institutes of Cambodia and Paris on the discovery of a gene (called K13) in the parasite’s genome that is responsible for its resistance to artemisinin, a drug used to combat malaria.

Agência FAPESP – What is the Pasteur Institute’s role in this international network?
Jouan – The Pasteur Institute in Paris hosts 15 of France’s 47 National Reference Centers, and some 40 students from the network train there each year. The network also holds 15 annual courses on infectious diseases, epidemiology and related disciplines. In addition, we’ve created several mechanisms to support PhD students and postdoctoral scholars. We want to strengthen these, especially with South American countries.

Agência FAPESP – What is Brazil’s role in the network?
Jouan – Brazil has first-rate research teams, excellent structures, and political support to develop its research with innovative tools, despite the persistence of major public health challenges. For example, the Pasteur Institute has conducted programs of research into vector-borne diseases such as dengue in partnership with Brazil, where the recent appearance of the Chikungunya virus causes considerable concern. Brazil’s epidemiological profile is changing: infectious diseases are declining, while non-transmissible diseases are on the rise. The institutions are keen to build scientific capacity in these areas. The challenges Brazil faces are exciting, and the Pasteur Institute would like to be part of this initiative.

Agência FAPESP – In Brazil, Fiocruz [Fundação Oswaldo Cruz] is part of the RIIP network. Could you describe this collaborative research?
Jouan – Fiocruz has been part of the network since 2006, but we’ve had an agreement since 2004. It’s an outstanding partner. We issue joint invitations for projects every year, and this has enabled us to bring together teams that collaborate on major scientific studies with the Pasteur Institute in Paris and other members of the network. Fiocruz also takes part in our meetings and in scientific and strategic proposals for the network, especially in the Americas. We’re currently developing a more structured form of cooperation and expect to develop joint units in the near term. These will take the form of partnerships between labs and a common project with more mobility and training. Some of the areas studied are parasitology, virology, entomology, hepatitis, epidemiology, neurosciences, genetics, drug development and immunology, but we want to extend this cooperation further.

Agência FAPESP – What types of research partnership interest the Pasteur Institute, and what types of proposals from other institutions are most common?
Jouan – We’re interested in developing high-quality science in a very broad range of activities, from effective public health programs to innovative areas using new technology. Of course, we want to develop programs along these lines with Brazil, and we feel Brazilian institutions are enthusiastic about this. We’re looking at collaborative studies and investigative mobility, as well as the implementation of a Pasteur Institute in Brazil. Among the proposals we’ve had from Brazilian partners are transverse activities such as lab quality processes, vivariums, research valorization, intellectual property, and experience in technology transfer.

Agência FAPESP – What is your view of the progress achieved in Brazil in research on infectious diseases?
Jouan – Promising work is being done by Brazilian researchers. Some of this work relates to advances in research and development on human vaccines, against HIV and visceral leishmaniasis, for example, or other neglected diseases such as dengue and leptospirosis. Another cutting-edge research area in Brazil is the use of cellular therapies using bone marrow stem cells, which may reduce the heart inflammation observed in Chagas disease. It’s worth noting that programs such as the National Science and Technology Institutes (INCT) have also contributed to the rapid modernization of science in Brazil. Very important progress has been achieved, for example, in the formation of human resources and the development of innovative technologies in scientific computing applied to medicine and new drugs using structural bioinformatics tools.

Agência FAPESP – And how are the Pasteur Institute’s partnerships with institutions in São Paulo State developing?
Jouan – We’ve been cooperating for a long time with the University of São Paulo (USP) and the Butantan Institute. We don’t have formal agreements with these institutions, but a number of activities have taken place over the years. With USP, we co-organized five high-quality permanent courses in immunology, as well as symposia, all of which helped to train an elite group of Brazilian researchers in the discipline. Today, they head various institutes and departments not just in São Paulo but also in other parts of Brazil. Scientific cooperation is strong in immunology, parasitology and microbiology and in research on hepatitis, cancer, inflammatory and degenerative diseases, and applied neuroscience. With the Butantan Institute, we’re organizing a vaccinology workshop, which will be held in June 2015 and should result in a partnership in this area. There’s also good potential for venom research, especially with the network’s institutes in North African and Asian countries. As in the case of Fiocruz, other partners in São Paulo collaborate with the Pasteur Institute in a structured form. An example is precisely FAPESP, with which we had an agreement between 2005 and 2009 and are now working on a new agreement as we’re very impressed by FAPESP’s support for science in São Paulo State.