The Fondation Mérieux is an independent family foundation recognized for public utility created by Charles Mérieux. Its mission is to contribute to global health by strengthening local capacities in

developing countries A developing country is a sovereign state with a less-developed Secondary sector of the economy, industrial base and a lower Human Development Index (HDI) relative to developed countries. However, this definition is not universally agreed upon. ...

to reduce the impact of

infectious diseases infection is the invasion of tissues by pathogens, their multiplication, and the reaction of host tissues to the infectious agent and the toxins they produce. An infectious disease, also known as a transmissible disease or communicable dise ...

on vulnerable populations.

History

The FM was created in 1967 by Doctor Charles Mérieux, in homage to his father Marcel Mérieux, pupil of

Louis Pasteur Louis Pasteur (, ; 27 December 1822 – 28 September 1895) was a French chemist, pharmacist, and microbiologist renowned for his discoveries of the principles of vaccination, Fermentation, microbial fermentation, and pasteurization, the la ...

and founder of the Institut Mérieux in 1897. It was recognized in French law as "for public utility" in 1976. The foundation is present in 18 countries such as

Mali Mali, officially the Republic of Mali, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is the List of African countries by area, eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of over . The country is bordered to the north by Algeria, to the east b ...

Cambodia Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. It is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, and Vietnam to the east, and has a coastline ...

Laos Laos, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic (LPDR), is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by Myanmar and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the southeast, and Thailand to the west and ...

and

Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...

. and builds its projects with the health authorities and local partners. In October 2004, the FM was the beneficiary of a Franco-Chinese agreement that led to the creation of the Institut Pasteur de Shanghai and the donation of four truck-trailer BSL-3 laboratories, supplied by Labover. In 2012, the FM continued its partnership with the

Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences Peking Union Medical College, also as Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, is a national public medical sciences research institution in Dongcheng, Beijing, Dongcheng, Beijing, China. Originally founded in 1906, it is affiliated with the Nationa ...

. The partnership, which is renewed by contract every five years, was begun with Phase I in 2007. In this case, the FM was interested in the study of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

. ''Inter alia'', Phase I of the CAMS-FM partnership funds trained "132 laboratory professionals at national, prefectural et and municipal levels." In 2015, the CAMS-FM partnership founded the Christophe Mérieux Laboratory (CML) at the Institute of

Pathogen In biology, a pathogen (, "suffering", "passion" and , "producer of"), in the oldest and broadest sense, is any organism or agent that can produce disease. A pathogen may also be referred to as an infectious agent, or simply a Germ theory of d ...

Biology Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and ...

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

to focus on the study

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

and

. Researchers at the CML "benefit from and training modules developed by the Emerging Pathogens Laboratory in Lyon", a BSL-4 lab which was also built by the FM in 1999 and since 2005 is now operated by

INSERM The (Inserm, ) is the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research. History and organisation Inserm was created in 1964 as a successor to the French National Institute of Health. Inserm is the only public research institution ...

. In 2015, the FM participated in the donation by the French government of CIRI's Biosafety Level 4 expertise to the

Wuhan Institute of Virology The Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (WIV; zh, s=中国科学院武汉病毒研究所) is a research institute on virology under the Wuhan Branch of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Located in Jiangxia District, Wuh ...

. This laboratory was accused by the leak of Covid-19, but there was not found any direct evidence that SARS-CoV-2 was inside a laboratory in Wuhan before the pandemic, although the lab has not released its records, which have been sought by scientists and governments around the world. In January 2017, a researcher who was financed by the CAMS-FM partnership participated in a study of human rhinovirus and genotype A21. In July 2020, it was announced that a researcher employed at the CAMS-FM participated in the development of a low-cost

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

screening test, which uses a variant of the

CRISPR CRISPR (; acronym of clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) is a family of DNA sequences found in the genomes of prokaryotic organisms such as bacteria and archaea. Each sequence within an individual prokaryotic CRISPR is d ...

technology.

Synopsis

The FM plays a role in the fight against infectious diseases by intervening in various areas: *Increase access to diagnosis because diagnosis is an essential tool for surveillance and control of diseases. *Reinforce research capacities, in particular by training teams on site and by setting up a research program. *Exchange and share knowledge, for the dissemination of global medical advances *Acting for mother and child, the most vulnerable to infectious diseases

References

External links

* {{Authority control Mérieux family Medical and health foundations Foundations based in France 1967 establishments in France Organizations established in 1967

History

Synopsis

See also

References

External links