Missions : ICARe leads mainly two types of activities to assist pasteurian researchers, mainly in the field of physiopathology and infectious diseases:

• Activity of clinical investigation (through a cohort of ca. 200 healthy volunteers followed-up by ICARe) and implication in the collaborative investigator’s network involved in the studies.

• A biobank activity, which consists in collection of human bioresources required by the studies, their preparation (such as blood fractionation, DNA extraction, micro-organisms isolation), storage in accurate conditions and distribution to research teams.

Realizations and perspectives : From the 7 studies taken in charge in 2007, 3 are ended up and 4 are under way (see figure).

The development of the biobank activity is one of ICARe’s aims, with the initiation of the certification process led by CRBIP to which ICARe belongs from 2005, and its integration to the french network of Biological Resource Centers (BRCs).

Perspectives for ICARe are:

• To improve the visibility and accuracy of our activity for the campus (internet site, charter of biobank)

• to develop internal partnerships with pasteurian research teams,

• to lead the project of WHO’s biobank on Human African Trypanosomiasis efficiently

• to develop other partnerships with other BRCs, other academic institutions, hospitals…

• to constitute relevant thematic collections in the field of infectious and tropical diseases