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 lesser developed industrial base and a lower Human Development Index (HDI) relative to other countries. However, this definition is not universally agreed upon. There is also no clear agreem ...
to reduce the impact of
infectious diseases
An 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
Marcel may refer to:
People
* Marcel (given name), people with the given name Marcel
* Marcel (footballer, born August 1981), Marcel Silva Andrade, Brazilian midfielder
* Marcel (footballer, born November 1981), Marcel Augusto Ortolan, Brazilian s ...
, pupil of
Louis Pasteur
Louis Pasteur (, ; 27 December 1822 – 28 September 1895) was a French chemist and microbiologist renowned for his discoveries of the principles of vaccination, microbial fermentation and pasteurization, the latter of which was named afte ...
and founder of the
Institut Mérieux
Institut Mérieux is a French holding company owned by the Mérieux family from Lyon.
History
It was created by Marcel Mérieux in 1897 under the name ''Institut Biologique Mérieux'' (Mérieux Biological Institute). The vaccine development bra ...
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,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mali ...
,
Cambodia
Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand t ...
,
Laos
Laos (, ''Lāo'' )), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, French: République démocratique populaire lao), is a socialist ...
and
Haiti
Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...
. 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. 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) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...
. ''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 ( el, πάθος, "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 ...
Biology
Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary i ...
in
Beijing
}
Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
to focus on the study
pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...
and
tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...
. 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.
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.
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
The rhinovirus (from the grc, ῥίς, rhis "nose", , romanized: "of the nose", and the la, vīrus) is the most common viral infectious agent in humans and is the predominant cause of the common cold. Rhinovirus infection proliferates in tem ...
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 a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...
screening test, which uses a variant of the
CRISPR
CRISPR () (an acronym for clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) is a family of DNA sequences found in the genomes of prokaryotic organisms such as bacteria and archaea. These sequences are derived from DNA fragments of bacte ...
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
See also
*
Mérieux Family The Mérieux family is an entrepreneurial dynasty from Lyon, France, owners of the Institut Mérieux holding, founders of companies such as Sanofi Pasteur, bioMérieux (in vitro diagnostics) and Mérial (veterinary activity), but also of the founda ...
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
Medical research
History of medicine
1967 establishments in France
Life sciences industry