Département Infection et épidémiologie

The Department of Infection & Epidemiology, which includes 13 research units, 3 laboratories and 1 technical platform, was created in 2005 from units in former departments of "Molecular Medicine" and "Ecosystems and Epidemiology of Infectious Diseases". The Infection and Epidemiology Department is deeply involved in the Public Health missions through the activities of 8 National Reference Centers (Neisseria, Bordetella. Salmonella/E. coli/Shigella, Vibrio, Lyssavirus, Listeria, toxigenic Corynebacteria, Invasive Mycoses & Antifungals),  3 World Health Organization Collaborating Centers (WHO-CC) (Rabies, Listeria, Salmonella) and the Urgent Response to Biological Threats laboratory. We all are committed to training the next generation of scientists to research in various fields related to infectious diseases (microbiology, immunology, epidemiology, entomolgy...).  The connexions of the Department with various Institutes of the international network are noteworthy with several productive collaborations ongoing.

Our research themes are quite broad dealing with pathogens, vectors and hosts, from basic science to translational research, from immunology and genetics to epidemiology and diagnostic tools for infectious diseases. Research in the department relies on strong and diverse expertise and trainings, unique cohorts of patients, and isolates/vectors collected in Metropolitan France and abroad. We have a global vision on hosts, pathogens and their interactions, and consider working on samples and data originating from well-characterized human cohorts as a way to maximize the future clinical and public health relevance of our research findings. We are conscious that taking into account the diversity of the hosts and of the pathogens is of primary importance. Indeed, the key to predicting the outcome of infectious diseases may lie in our understanding of how genetic diversity of hosts and pathogens translates into disease outcome.