NEWS
2010 - 07 - 27 Laboratory of Retrovirology
A new collaborative project has been launched in 2010 between the Laboratory of Retrovirology of CRP-Santé, the National Reference Laboratory (NRL) of Rwanda and Lux-Development (the Luxembourg Agency for Development Cooperation) to support the Rwandese strategic health plan. The declaration of intent (detailled joint action plan) was signed between the three partners last week in Kigali. In march 2010, the Laboratory of Retrovirology trained NRL technicians on Molecular Biology and on Real-Time PCR techniques in Kigali.
In the context of the bilateral protocol between the Republic of Rwanda and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, the RWA/023 project operated by Lux-Development , was launched in January 2010. The project aims to support the Health sector strategic plan 2009-2012 of Rwanda and in particular the HIV operational research. The main role of the Laboratory of Retrovirology is to develop capacities of NRL technicians in Molecular Biology and to strengthen the epidemiologic monitoring of HIV resistance in the country. In march 2010, Gilles Iserentant from the Laboratory of Retrovirology and Laurent Debaisieux (AIDS Reference Laboratory, Erasme Hospital, Bruxelles) trained 12 NRL technicians on Molecular Biology and on Real-Time techniques. During two weeks, Laurent Debaisieux gave some fundamental and applied courses in Molecular Biology while Gilles Iserentant trained technicians on the HIV viral load measurement and the pediatric diagnostic of HIV infection using alternative low cost Real-Time PCR techniques. These training sessions aim to support the joint research tasks of the Rwandan Ministry of Health and CRP-Santé to describe HIV-1 genetic variability and drug resistance mutation patterns in naïve-treatment and treated patients from Rwanda.(PhD thesis of Dr Jean-Claude Karasi, project REC-LRTV-20071004 : HIV-1 drug resistance and non-progressive infection in subtype A virus: genotype, phenotype and clinical relevance).
In September 2010, two NRL technicians will be then trained in Luxembourg to the new ABI 3500xlDX sequencer and to the detection of drug resistance mutations in HIV sequences. In the coming years more trainings on HIV drug resistance monitoring and common publications are foreseen as joint research projects.
Bilateral projects executed by Lux-Development in Rwanda concentrate mainly on rural development (RWA 022 project) and health (RWA 023 project), in particular fighting the HIV/AIDS epidemic. More informations at www.lux-development.lu.