Third France-Japan symposium on HIV and infectious diseases

Coordinated Action 41 within ANRS Emerging Infectious Diseases – "Host-virus interactions, basic and translational research" – and the Institut Pasteur are pleased to organize the third France-Japan symposium on HIV and infectious diseases. This conference is also supported by the Université Paris Cité and Université Paris Saclay.

The event will take place from October 28 to 30 on the Institut Pasteur campus, in the Duclaux lecture hall.

ANRS Emerging Infectious Diseases is an independent Inserm agency that leads, assesses, coordinates and funds research on HIV/AIDS, viral hepatitis, sexually transmitted infections, tuberculosis and emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases. It prepares a response to the scientific challenges represented by emerging diseases and implements this response in the event of a crisis.

As a world leader in research on viruses and micro-organisms, Institut Pasteur has accomplished remarkable work in recent years in the fields of human and public health, including the isolation of the human immunodeficiency virus, the development of a vaccine against hepatitis B, the detection of Helicobacter pylori and its strategy for targeting mitochondria during infection. It is committed to strengthening its collaboration with leading Japanese universities, research institutions, companies and public organizations on a wide range of issues, including an ageing society, climate change, marine pollution and biodiversity loss.

Vulnerability to pathogens and preparedness for pandemics are priority subjects that are the focus of growing concern and increasing research. France and Japan are at the forefront of research on infectious diseases and vaccine development.

Since 2019, the symposium has brought together experts from France and Japan in a wide range of scientific disciplines in the field of basic and translational research on HIV and infectious diseases, to present new results, advance scientific knowledge and strengthen global scientific collaboration.

The results of ongoing collaborative studies between France and Japan will be presented, and a particular effort will be made to involve early career scientists interested in strengthening existing collaboration or developing future collaboration between laboratories in the two countries.

The sessions will cover cross-cutting research topics such as virology, structural biology, the immune response, vaccines and immunotherapies concerning pathogens such as HIV, hepatitis viruses, viruses that cause respiratory diseases (SARS-CoV-2 and influenza), HTLV-1 and flaviviruses.

The symposium will include presentations by around 50 expert scientists in the field, including several Institut Pasteur scientists:

• Simon Cauchemez, Head of the Mathematical Modeling of Infectious Diseases Unit: “Using mathematical models to analyze complex epidemic data and gain key insights on epidemic dynamics and control”

• Florian Dubois, research engineer in the Translational Immunology Unit: “Biological effect of cytokine specific auto-antibodies on immune responses in a healthy population”

• Hugo Mouquet, Head of the Humoral Immunology Unit: “Human Broadly Neutralizing Antiviral Antibodies”

• Luis Romero Martin, post-doctoral fellow in the Viral Reservoirs and Immune Control Unit: “Unraveling the relationship between NK cell polyfunctional capacity and HIV/SIV post-treatment control”

• Anavaj Sakuntabhai, Head of the Ecology and Emergence of Arthropod-Borne Pathogens Unit: “Dengue vaccine development”

• Olivier Schwartz, Head of the Virus and Immunity Unit: “Entry and replication of human seasonal coronavirus HKU1”

Institut Pasteur scientists will also be giving the opening addresses for some of the sessions:

• Michaela Müller-Trutwin, Head of the HIV, Inflammation and Persistence Unit: Official opening and opening of the session “Anti-viral immune responses - Part II”

• Anastassia Komarova, responsable du Laboratoire commun Institut Pasteur-Oncovita : Opening of the session “Young investigators session”

• Etienne Simon-Lorière, responsable de l’unité Génomique évolutive des virus à ARN : Opening of the session “Viral evolution and epidemiological modelling”

Following the presentations, laboratory visits and individual meetings will be planned to facilitate dialog with early career Japanese scientists and strengthen bilateral collaboration.

Find out more
Preliminary program
Register before October 15 (registration is free but required)

Scientific organizing committee

France: Victor Appay^1,2, Anne-Sophie Beignon^3,4, David Durantel^1,5, Hélène Dutartre^1,5, Jerome Estaquier^1,6, Michaela Müller-Trutwin (President of AC41)^6,7, Asier Saez-Cirion^6,7, Anavaj Sakuntabhai^7,8, Nabila Seddiki⁴
¹ INSERM, ² University of Bordeaux, ³ CNRS, ⁴ CEA, ⁵ University of Lyon, ⁶ Université Paris Cité, ⁷ Institut Pasteur, ⁸ Institut Pasteur Japan Office

Japan: Tetsuro Matano¹, Masafumi Takiguchi², Ai Kawana-Tachikawa¹, Koichi Watashi¹, Hiroyuki Yamamoto¹, Takuya Yamamoto³, Akatsuki Saito⁴
¹ NIID - University of Tokyo, ² Kumamoto University , ³ NIBIOHN - Osaka University, ⁴ University of Miyazaki

ANRS Emerging Infectious Diseases (ANRS MIE): Guia Carrara, Dahlia Chebbah, Cécile Peltekian

Institut Pasteur: Nathalie Alazard, Mathilde Boisserin, Magali Lago, Odette Tomescu-Hatto