News & Events
News & Events
Institut Pasteur Korea and International Vaccine Institute Sign MOU for Research and Development of Infectious Disease Therapeutics and Vaccines.
2021-04-01
Institut Pasteur Korea and International Vaccine Institute Sign MOU for
Research and Development of Infectious Disease Therapeutics and Vaccines
Research and Development of Infectious Disease Therapeutics and Vaccines
April 1, 2021, GYEONGDO-DO and SEOUL, Korea – The Institut Pasteur Korea (IPK) and the International Vaccine Institute (IVI) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for mutual collaboration in the research and development of therapeutics and vaccines for infectious diseases.
The MOU signing ceremony, held at IVI headquarters on March 31, was attended by Dr. Youngmee Jee, CEO, and Dr. Spencer Shorte, CSO from IPK, as well as Dr. Jerome Kim, Director General, and Dr. Manki Song, Deputy Director General of Science from IVI.
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IPK CEO Dr. Youngmee Jee (on the right) and IVI Director General Dr. Jerome KimTowards the shared goal of improving public health, the IPK and IVI will promote research collaboration and information exchange, holding joint workshops and seminars to connect biomedical scientists and infectious disease experts of the two organizations and their partners worldwide.
In particular, the collaboration combines IPK's research and technology in infectious disease and IVI's capabilities and know-how in developing and designing new vaccines and in supporting clinical trials to accelerate new therapeutics and vaccine development. IPK and IVI have common fields of research interest in COVID-19, MERS, Dengue, TB, etc.
IPK stands at the forefront of developing preventive and therapeutic strategies by employing state-of-the-art screening platforms that enable researchers to study and analyze the physiological and chemical phenomena in cells, such as infection, and identify potent candidates. Especially, IPK will apply its research on viral immune responses and immunopathology to facilitate vaccine research, such as understanding the in-vivo immune response to viruses and identifying novel immune-regulatory molecules using the screening platform.
"The IPK and IVI will together create synergy utilizing each other’s research capabilities and global network,” IPK CEO Dr. Youngmee Jee said. “Through the collaboration with IVI, which is internationally renowned for expertise and capabilities in the field of vaccine development for infectious diseases, IPK will make an opportunity for expanding the core R&D expertise in infectious diseases, and further strive in contributing to public health and responding to global threats." Dr. Jee served as a member of the Board of Trustees of IVI from 2016 to 2019.
IVI is the world’s only international organization devoted exclusively to discovery, development and delivery of vaccines against infectious diseases and is hosted by the Republic of Korea. IVI is developing vaccines against the world’s neglected diseases and emerging diseases including Covid-19 through public-private partnerships with companies and organizations in Korea and around the world.
“IVI is privileged to partner with IPK, the international institute established by the scientific cooperation between Korea and France and a member of the Institut Pasteur International Network, in our concerted efforts to find vaccine and therapeutics solutions to global health threats,” said IVI Director General Dr. Jerome Kim. “This partnership may open a new horizon for vaccine discovery and development by integrating IVI’s proven track records in vaccine discovery and development with IPK’s advanced screening platform, coupled with the extensive global partnership networks of the two organizations.”
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About Institut Pasteur Korea
Institut Pasteur Korea (IPK) is a non-profit infectious disease-focused research institute established in 2004 as a part of the scientific cooperation between the Rep. of Korea and France. To address unmet global health issues, such as COVID-19, hepatitis, tuberculosis, antibiotic resistance, and cancer, IPK utilizes its core research capabilities, including in-house developed cell-based screening platforms, to understand disease mechanisms and accelerate the development of new treatments. As a member of the Institut Pasteur International Network (IPIN), constituting 32 member institutes in 25 countries across the five continents, IPK plays a key role in driving early drug discovery within the network. By providing fundamental technologies to bridge Korean and international bio-pharma science and promote multi-disciplinary projects globally, IPK stands at the forefront of drug discovery research that contributes to Korea's scientific, intellectual, and technical resources and global infectious disease preparedness and response. (www.ip-korea.org)
About the International Vaccine Institute (IVI)
The International Vaccine Institute (IVI) is a nonprofit inter-governmental organization established in 1997 at the initiative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
Headquartered in Seoul, South Korea, IVI was the first international organization hosted by Korea. IVI has 36 signatory countries and the World Health Organization (WHO) on its treaty, including Korea, Sweden, India, and Finland as state funders.
Our mandate is to make vaccines available and accessible for the world’s most vulnerable people. We focus on infectious diseases of global health importance such as cholera, typhoid, shigella, salmonella, schistosomiasis, chikungunya, group A strep, Hepatitis A, HPV, TB, HIV, MERS, COVID-19, as well as antimicrobial resistance. For more information, please visit https://www.ivi.int
Inquiry
Institut Pasteur Korea (IPK): Ms. Jieun Kim
- Office: +82-31-8018-8041
- Cell: +82-10-5298-9950
- Email: jieun.kim@ip-korea.org