ICARe : a tool for pasteurian biomedical research

Biomedical research creates the conditions favorable for Public Health applications of the Institut Pasteur’s scientific production (e.g. description of vaccine candidates, new diagnostic tools design…).

Missions : ICARe leads three types of activities to assist pasteurian researchers, mainly in pathophysiology and infectious diseases fields :

• methodological support, from the design of a biomedical study to its execution.

• investigational activity (through a cohort of ca. 200 healthy volunteers followed-up by ICARe) and coordination through the collaborative investigator’s network involved in the studies.

• a biobank facility, which consists in collecting the human bioresources required by the studies,

their preparation (such as blood fractionation, DNA extraction, micro-organisms isolation), storage and distribution to research teams.

Realizations and perspectives :

Of the 9 studies conducted in 2006, 6 were initiated that year (see figure). All will be pursued in 2007, and 4 new projects are already being scheduled. Long-term collaborations with scientists have been established, as shown by the two consecutive studies on Tuberculosis diagnosis and Opiorphin.

The development of the biobank (belonging to the Centre de Ressources Biologiques de l’Institut Pasteur) is one of ICARe’s aims, with the initiation of the certification process, and its integration to the French network of biobanks working in the field of infectious diseases. We intend to coordinate human bioresources’collections especially in the fields of vaccinal and natural anti-infectious immunity and severe infections, allowing collaborative work through thematic collections.