PICREID Project: new developments and midterm meeting, January 19 and 20, 2023

The Pasteur International Center for Research on Emerging Infectious Diseases, (the PICREID project), was launched in July 2020. This NIH-funded (National Institutes of Health) project coordinated by Professor Anavaj Sakuntabhai of Institut Pasteur uses a One Health, intercontinental approach to study the transmission, adaptation and pathogenesis of viruses with pandemic potential in Southeast Asia and West and Central Africa.

It focuses on dengue, Rift Valley Fever, and Crimean Congo Hemorrhagic Fever viruses as well as “Disease X.” The original consortium consisted of six teams from Institut Pasteur (directed by Anavaj Sakuntabhai, Etienne Simon-Lorière, Marc Eloit, Felix Rey, Jean-Claude Manuguerra and Simon Cauchemez), three institutes from the Pasteur Network (Institut Pasteur du Cambodge, Institut Pasteur de Dakar et le Centre Pasteur du Cameroun) and Leipzig University. PICREID is one of eleven projects funded by the NIH which together constitute the “CREID network.”

“What makes PICREID unique compared to other projects is the One Health and multi-disciplinary approach. We study three important arthropod-borne pathogens which have different hosts, vectors and modes of transmission. We conduct a comparative study of three ecosystems,” explains Professor Sakuntabhai in a recent interview.”

Since its start two years ago there have been several noteworthy developments. Dr. Etienne Simon-Lorière has joined Professor Sakuntabhai as Program Director / Principal Investigator (PD/PI), bringing his expertise in RNA virus genomics and evolution to the project leadership. The consortium has expanded to include the Centre for Research in Infectious Diseases (Cameroon) and Sivas Cumhuriyet University (Turkey). Over forty investigators are now involved in the research. In addition to the original six million dollars of funding, investigators worked with the Institut Pasteur Grants Office to obtain supplementary funds from the NIH for research on SARS-CoV-2 variants in Africa and Southeast Asia (2021: 454k USD), hantavirus in Cambodia (2021: 149k USD) and tick-borne diseases in Cambodia (2022: 147k USD). Multiple articles and resources have already been published by members of the consortium.

“This research is very timely; the original proposal was submitted in June of 2019 and the project started at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, one of the worst examples of Disease X,” explains Dr. Simon-Lorière. “One of the most exciting aspects of this program is its dedication to junior researchers’ growth, through mentorship and CREID Pilot Program opportunities.”

A midterm meeting will be organized on January 19th-20th, 2023 at Institut Pasteur to present the project’s progress to date and the directions for the remaining two and a half years. This meeting is open to Pasteurians; registration is free but mandatory (Note: in-person seating is limited).

More information, project news and productions are available on the new PICREID website

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Contact the Project Manager, Kelly Prifti: kelly.prifti@pasteur.fr