RUN-EMERGE

"Supporting the research potential on emerging infectious diseases in La Réunion Island, an EU outermost region in the South-Western Indian Ocean"

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 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'La Réunion Island is an outermost European region located in the South Western Indian Ocean. It was severely hit in 2005 and 2006 by a Chikungunya epidemic that affected a third of the population and led to dramatic socio-economical consequences. As a result, the CRVOI (Centre de Recherche et de Veille sur les maladies émergentes dans l’Ocean Indien), was launched in 2007 to be dedicated to the investigation of human and animal infectious diseases emerging in tropical regions. This Center complements, in a holistic approach of EIDs research, the existing laboratories of the Université de La Réunion working on plant emerging pathogens, phytochemistry, ecology, immunology and social sciences. RUN-Emerge aims at tackling the weaknesses resulting from the remoteness of this island, i.e. essentially scientific isolation and insufficient human resources. The main objectives are (i) to foster an inter disciplinary approach towards EIDs investigation, (ii) to tighten links of the Université de La Réunion with research partners from South Western Indian Ocean ICPCs working in this field and (iii) to open up the partnership to European leading groups, thereby extending the European Research Area and laying the ground for future participation to FP7 calls.'

Introduzione (Teaser)

To overcome the scientific isolation and remoteness of Reunion Island, the EU has funded an initiative for strengthening local research on infectious diseases.

Descrizione progetto (Article)

Reunion Island is an overseas region of France located in the western Indian Ocean.

In 2005, the island was hit by an epidemic of the mosquito-borne CHIKV virus with severe socioeconomic implications.

To deal with similar infectious diseases in the future, the region has launched the Centre de Recherche et de Veille sur les maladies emergentes dans l'Ocean Indien (CRVOI).

Aiming to support the work of CRVOI, the EU-funded http://runemerge.univ-reunion.fr/ (RUN-EMERGE) project has been designed to strengthen the infrastructure and resources of Reunion Island with respect to infectious diseases research.

The initiative will run in collaboration with medical and veterinary teams and will aim to integrate regional research into the European agenda.

A considerable part of the funding has been dedicated to the purchasing of necessary equipment and technological upgrades to support research.

Eight young scientists have been recruited in the overlapping fields of bacteriology, immunology, cell biology and bioinformatics.

Scientists from both Europe and Reunion Island have exchanged visits and set up collaborations.

Furthermore, RUN-EMERGE has launched scientific days on emerging infectious diseases in the south-western Indian Ocean (SWIO) region.

These now constitute an important regional scientific event.

Overall, the activities of the RUN-EMERGE initiative will reinforce research on infectious diseases, either emerging or at risk of emergence in the SWIO.

In the long term, this will not only expose Reunion Island internationally in the field but will also facilitate the handling of local medical challenges.