CIRMF - 30th Scientific Council of the CIRMF

The CIRMF Scientific Council held its annual meeting from 18 to 21 December 2009 in Franceville and welcomed the results achieved, through the development of real estate projects and new facilities such as the Biological Resource Center, new publications, a new policy for receiving doctoral fellows and post-docs, and training.

During the meeting, in which each department head presented the activity report of his unit, the Board, chaired by Prof. Patrice Debré, hailed the scientific breakthroughs of the various teams and units, including the haematology unit’s work on setting up a network on sickle cell disease, its inclusion in the prevention and treatment of this blood disorder, and its importance for studying the relationship between sickle cell disease and infectious diseases; the parasitology unit’s work on malaria, pathophysiology, the study of medicinal plant extracts, sentinel  surveillance on resistance to antimalarial drugs, and the genetic polymorphism of Plasmodium, which opens important perspectives in the field. The health ecology unit represents a unique interaction between researchers and environmental and health issues through the study of the biodiversity of pathogens, zoonotic risk, and environmental pressure in Central Africa.

The Retrovirology Unit, through its work on the molecular epidemiology of human and non-human primate retroviruses, represents a remarkable study of interspecies transmission and the risk posed by animal reservoirs; The emerging viral diseases unit, an emblematic unit of the CIRMF, crowned by the success of its leader, represents a unique model for studies on the risk and control of epidemics in public health nationally, regionally and internationally; the Primate Centre, by studying many species of non-human primates, is a unique centre in sub-Saharan animal expertise and experimentation, and the biomedical and public health laboratory supports this work.

Congratulating the Director General, Dr. Jean-Paul Gonzalez, and all the teams and units, the Scientific Council, chaired by Prof. Patrice Debré, French Ambassador for the fight against AIDS and Communicable Diseases, agrees that the CIRMF, due to its achievements and perspectives, represents a unique model for studies on emerging diseases, which supports, in terms of public health, the emergence policy advocated by the President of the Gabonese Republic.