EVAg

The Fondation Mérieux(FMER) is dedicated to fighting infectious diseases that affect developing and emerging countries by reducing their impact on vulnerable populations.FMER, established in 1967 as an independent family foundation, is recognized as state-approved charity institution with a long history in global health.

With activities in more than countries, FMER builds and coordinates international networks and develops partnerships with developing country health authorities and governments, public and private academic research bodies and hospitals, international organizations, development banks, foundations, NGOs, and the healthcare industry. Fondation Mérieux implements its mission via two complementary programmes focusing on biomedical laboratory systems and biomedical research.

In order to strengthen infectious disease research capacity in low income countries and help them develop solutions adapted to their local context, FMER implemented in 2008 an international North-South-network called GABRIEL (Global Approach to Biological Research, Infectious diseases and Epidemics in Low income countries), which is coordinated by the Emerging Pathogens Laboratory (LPE,Fondation Mérieux) in Lyon, France. The GABRIEL network is composed by 20 research laboratories from developing, emerging and developed countries from Europe, Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean and the Middle East. These research laboratories are either National Public Health Laboratories or research laboratories from local NGOs. The main role is to implement research projects on infectious diseases, including surveillance studies in collaboration with local hospitals, and to share research results within the scientific community and decision treatment of infectious diseases by conducting epidemiological studies through local partnerships; (ii) to develop and provide new laboratory tests for the surveillance of pathogens in developing countries; (iii) to support the development of capacities that help developing countries to rapidly identify and characterize newly circulating pathogens, such as emerging, mutant, or resistant strains; (iv) to reinforce the skills of local scientists.

Our priorities are to provide expertise and support high burden countries in a sustainable strategy by sharing skills and techniques (on-hands training both in-country and at the Emerging Pathogens Laboratory of Fondation Mérieux in Lyon). The two reference laboratories of GABRIEL are the LPE in Lyon, and the Christophe Mérieux Laboratory (CML) a joint laboratory between Fondation Mérieux and the Institute of Pathogen Biology, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences in Beijing, also a member of EVAg.