News & Events
News & Events
Institut Pasteur Korea (IPK) Collaborates with African Institutions to Secure Pathogens and Specimen Resources for Overseas Infectious Diseases
2024-09-30
Institut Pasteur Korea (IPK) Collaborates with
African Institutions to Secure Pathogens
and Specimen Resources for Overseas Infectious Diseases
African Institutions to Secure Pathogens
and Specimen Resources for Overseas Infectious Diseases
- Collection of infectious disease pathogens and specimens resources
such as dengue fever, HIV, and measles -
- Strengthening the capacity to secure resources at overseas bases, including Africa -
such as dengue fever, HIV, and measles -
- Strengthening the capacity to secure resources at overseas bases, including Africa -
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(Sep. 30, 2024, Gyeonggi-do, Rep. of Korea) On August 26, Institut Pasteur Korea (IPK) announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ghana Infectious Disease Centre (GIDC) and Uganda's Masaka Regional Referral Hospital (Masaka RRH) to expand the collection of high-risk pathogens and specimen resources, as well as to enhance research collaboration.
IPK’s Global Infectious Disease Specimen Bank (GISB) was licensed as a human material bank and pathogen resourse bank. As the first non-medical institution in South Korea to simultaneously operate two biobanks, which collect and distribute infectious disease pathogens and specimens, GISB can now gather infectious disease pathogen resources and patient specimens such as dengue fever, COVID-19, HIV, tuberculosis, and measles from medical institutions in Africa.
Through these agreements, IPK aims to secure resources for emerging infectious diseases abroad and high-risk infectious diseases likely to be imported into Korea. These resources will be distributed to domestic researchers and industries. Additionally, IPK plans to promote research cooperation through academic exchanges and joint symposiums on multidrug-resistant organisms, tuberculosis, and zoonotic diseases.
In 2022, IPK signed an MOU with the National Blood Institute of Côte d'Ivoire, securing resources such as HIV-positive antibodies and continuously made efforts toward international cooperation.
Meanwhile, GIDC, Ghana’s first and leading center dedicated to the management of Infectious diseases. Set up by the private sector as their contribution to fighting the COVID pandemic. Post COVID, the center is dedicated to research and the management of infectious diseases plaguing the sub-saharan Africa. It aims to address this through collaborations with both local and international collaborators .
Masaka RRH built in 1927 as a center for treating First World War veterans and now served as a Regional Referral Hospital sets a mission of increasing access of all people in the Masaka region to quality general and specialized health service with the strategic objectives such as providing a range of specialized, diagnostic and investigative services etc.
IPK CEO, Dr. Sung Key Jang said, "Securing and utilizing human resources in preparation for (re)emerging infectious diseases is essential. We are strengthening our efforts to collect, manage, and distribute overseas resources to develop diagnostics, vaccines, and support basic research in therapeutic development."