EVAg

Institut Pasteur (IP) is a non-profit foundation dedicated to the prevention and treatment of diseases through biomedical research, education, and public health activities. IP is organized in 10 departments and recognized as a leader in infectious diseases research, and ranked as a top level institution for publication impact in the field of microbiology. A high-level technology park, composed of 13 state-of-the-art technological platforms, offers cutting-edge equipment and know-how. The IP’s Teaching Centre offers a high-quality training program to young French and foreign researchers through a unique combination of high-quality theoretical, analytical and technical courses and lectures (500 students from 50 nationalities each year). IP has the required expertise and management infrastructure as well as a large experience in coordinating and participating to EU projects to efficiently and successfully support the EVA GLOBAL project.

In partnerships with its International network of 33 Pasteur Institutes (RIIP), IP contributes to a better detection and control of pathogens of major concern for Human and Animal Health. Thus, these Network institutes contribute to the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases by research activities focusing on the main transmissible bacterial, parasitic or viral diseases and by public health activities including national reference centers, WHO collaborating centers and participation in national programs to fight against infectious diseases. These activities also include field investigations that allowed the laboratories to process numerous samples. These are essential for an accurate understanding of the epidemiological mechanisms of disease. These activities also constitute a very interesting source of identification of important and/or potential new pathogens in various ecological and geographical settings all over the world.

Many collections are hosted by Institut Pasteur. The Centre de Ressource Biologique (CRBIP) holds biological material collections and related information. A number of checks are carried out to ensure that the biological material complies with the properties described by the different research entities of Institut Pasteur defined as providers. CRBIP has been certified ISO 9001 since 2005. CRBIP also contributes to the shared catalog of French microorganism BRCs – FBRCMi-catalog. This web application is maintained and hosted by the Institut Pasteur. CRBIP dispatches biological resources throughout France and overseas, while meeting all applicable health and environmental safety standards, regulations and laws and ensuring full traceability. In addition, resources are constantly enhanced and updated through the integration of new collections and diversification of existing ones. An increasing number of materials are therefore available to scientists. Although this collection is very diverse and contains numerous strains, the number of viruses included remained very limited. Therefore, EVA GLOBAL will constitute a unique opportunity for Institut Pasteur to set up an International Biological Resource Centre focusing on virus strains in collaboration with the international network of Pasteur Institutes. The aim of this centre will be to preserve collections of virus strains and the information linked to them in collaboration with the present biological resource centre of Institut Pasteur. EVA GLOBAL will help to make these collections available for the scientific community.