London, November 15, 2023 - The Institut Pasteur announces the launch of the Pasteur Foundation – UK, a private non-profit foundation aiming to raise awareness and funds for scientific cooperations between the Institut Pasteur in Paris and scientific institutions in the UK.
Pandemics, antimicrobial resistance, neurodegenerative diseases and autism are among the many public health challenges the world is facing. The Pasteur Foundation - UK will bring some of the very best researchers from the French and UK scientific communities to address these challenges and to find solutions.
On November 15, 2023, an event is being held to celebrate Franco-British cooperation in the field of biomedical research and to officialize the launch of the Pasteur Foundation – UK. Subjects of ongoing scientific partnerships include autism and antimicrobial resistance (see below) and, in perspective, are closer collaborations on pandemic preparedness and emerging infectious diseases.
This event brings together prestigious speakers including Sir Paul Nurse (2001 Nobel Prize for Physiology and medicine, Francis Crick Institute), Stephen Brenninkmeijer (Willows Investments), Simon Baron-Cohen (Cambridge University), Chris Schofield (Oxford University), and Thomas Bourgeron, Arnaud Fontanet, Jessica Vanhomwegen and Paola Arimondo (all Institut Pasteur).
Professor Sir Stewart Cole, President of the Pasteur Foundation – UK, President of the Institut Pasteur in Paris, declares: “At the Institut Pasteur, we strongly believe international collaborations are key to tackle global challenges. This is why we recently created the Pasteur Foundation - UK with the mission to support scientific cooperations between the Institut Pasteur and UK-based institutions in the fields of discovery and biomedical research.” Stewart Cole cites Louis Pasteur who once said “science knows no country, because knowledge belongs to humanity and (….) illuminates the world.”
The Oxford - Pasteur PhD Exchange program on antimicrobial resistance (AMR)
The Institut Pasteur and the Department of Chemistry at the University of Oxford are joining their forces and complementary expertise to develop cutting edge projects at the interface of chemistry and biology to tackle the AMR challenge. The partnership between these two Institutions will foster synergistic projects to fight antimicrobial resistance through a joint PhD program. PhD students will work on collaborative research projects between the two Institutions, spending up to 3 months of their PhD in the partner laboratory. The exchange will allow students to be trained in multiple research domains to gain transdisciplinary expertise.
About the Pasteur Foundation – UK
The Pasteur Foundation – UK was created on June 19 2023 with Professor Sir Stewart Cole as President. The board of trustees includes Sir Paul Nurse (Francis Crick Institute), Stephen Brennenkmeijer (WRI), Antoine Bogaerts and Caroline Giboulet (both Institut Pasteur). The objects of the foundation are the advancement of all fields of human health, more precisely, the advancement and promotion of knowledge and education for public benefit by supporting, through the provision of financial assistance:
• The development and conduct of research in the field of infectious diseases,
• The dissemination of such research through teaching and training activities,
• The conduct of and support for public health initiatives,
• The development of innovation and knowledge in relation to the prevention and cure of diseases, in particular, but not exclusively, in connection with the activities of the Institut Pasteur.
About the Institut Pasteur
The Institut Pasteur, a non-profit foundation set up by Louis Pasteur in 1887, is today an internationally renowned center for biomedical research. In the pursuit of its mission to tackle diseases throughout the world, the Institut Pasteur operates in four main areas: research, public health, training, and innovation. Since its inception, 10 Pasteur scientists have been awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine. The Institut Pasteur is part of the Pasteur Network a worldwide network of more than thirty members, on five continents, all active in global health activities.