USP launches platform for research into emerging diseases

The University of São Paulo (USP) launched the Pasteur–USP scientific platform at the Innovation Center in Western São Paulo on Thursday, through a deal signed by Pasteur Institute, in France, and the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz).

The platform includes 17 laboratories of the renowned French institute directed at the research of emerging pathogenic agents, whose infections may damage the central nervous system, like the Zika virus, dengue fever, yellow fever, and influenza.

“The main idea is a scientific strategy chiefly aimed at the discovery of solutions to agents that cause epidemics, like the Zika virus, dengue, Mayaro fever,” said scientist Paola Minoprio, research director with the Pasteur Institute and platform coordinator, along with Professor Luiz Carlos Ferreira, director at the USP Biomedical Sciences Institute (ICB).

USP was selected due to the research studies conducted by the university and the similarities between the studies carried out by the two institutions, the director reported. “Research lines are very similar to those at ICB and the two institutes have developed collaborative projects.” The institutes share studies in such fields as Immunology, Cell Biology, Microbiology, and Parasitology.

The platform, partly financed by the French government, boasts an area of 1,700 square meters, where 17 laboratories are expected to operate. Of these, four will be assigned to a higher security level, the third of a scale of four. Rooms have a 200 square meter area and have one pressurized chamber each, ensuring pressure control to prevent contamination in the outside environment.

Pasteur Institute has 33 research centers across 26 countries, members of the institute’s international network.