NEWS
In order to discuss possibilities of collaborations in the biomedical research field between Chinese and Luxembourgish Research Institutes, Dr. WANG Xiaopin, Director-General of the Department of International Cooperation, State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine (China), officially visited Luxembourg from 13 to 17 April 2012.
During her stay she met:
- Mr. Mars di Bartolomeo, Minister of Health
- Dr. Jean-Claude Schmit, CEO of CRP-Santé
- Dr. Martine Mergen of the Chambre des Députés
- Mr. Carlo Diederich, Director of Health and Spa Departments, Domaine Thermal Mondorf
- Mr. Guy de Muyser, Vice-President of MedChine asbl
- Mr. Wei Zhang, Vice-President of Bank of China in Luxembourg
The China National Centre Television (CCTV) covered some of these events especially the interview with Dr. Schmit, CEO of CRP-Santé and the visit of the Chambre des Députés.
The Activity Report highlights :
- Collaborations strengthened at the international level (exemple of the immunology department provided)
- PhD students trained in 2011
- Ongoing projects driven in the field of Clinical Research
- Improvement of Public Health: ongoing projects related to the Registre National du Cancer and Registre National des Accidents
- Technogy Transfer.
The activity report is available on the following link: http://www.crp-sante.lu/activityreport2011/index.php
Department of Immunology . The Directors of 10 Russian and 12 Central-Asian Reference Laboratories met from 14.-16.3.2012 in Luxembourg. On demand of the World Health Organization (WHO) Copenhagen and with support of the Luxembourg Ministry for Foreign Affairs, the Department of Immunology hosted in Luxembourg this important meeting of the WHO Lab Network. A report in German and French is attached.
Read the press release - FR version
Read the press release - DE version
It is the second time that Dr. Andy Chevigné is awarded the price of Young investigators at the CROI conference. He has presented a poster entitled «Identification of new CCR5 entry inhibitors from human non immunized heavy chain CDR3 repertoires » (A. Chevigné, M. Counson, J.M. Plesséria, N. Beaupain, C. Devaux, J.C. Schmit and S. Deroo) regrouping research results accumulated during the last three years in the Immuno-Virology unit of the Laboratory of Retrovirology. Using the phage display technology the team of Immuno-Virology successfully screened human heavy chain CDR3 peptide repertoires against a peptide derived from the extracellular surface of the HV-1 coreceptor CCR5 and identified a set of linear and cyclic peptides inhibiting HIV-1 entry into host cells. These HCDR3 peptides represent the smallest human antibody fragments inhibiting HIV entry reported to date and open new perspectives for the development of HIV peptide therapeutics. These results follow another research conducted at the LRTV with the same technology on another receptor (CXCR4) involved in HIV-1 entry and published in 2010 in the FEBS Journal.
Alain Gras has presented a poster on Identification of New CYP2B6 Non-Synonymous SNPs Affecting CYP2B6 Activity in HIV-Infected Patients from Rwanda ( Alain Gras, Robert Radloff, Cécile Masquelier, Karthik Arumugam, Jean-Claude Karasi, Jean-Claude Schmit, Kathrin Klein, Ulrich Zanger, Carole Devaux). The poster is dealing with the cytochrome P450 2B6 which is the major isoenzyme involved in the metabolism of the non nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor efavirenz. Genetic variations were reported to modify CYP2B6 expression or activity. Differences in single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) have been noticed among ethnicities. The aim of his study was to identify new SNP with a potential impact on the CYP2B6 metabolic function in HIV-1 infected patients from Rwanda.
Read the abstract on “Identification of new CCR5 entry inhibitors from human non immunized heavy chain CDR3 repertoires”.
Read the abstract on Identification of New CYP2B6 Non-Synonymous SNPs Affecting CYP2B6 Activity in HIV-Infected Patients from Rwanda.
About the laboratory of Retrovirology:
The laboratory of Retrovirology was founded in 1989 as the national reference laboratory for HIV and is working in close relationship with the National Department of Infectious Diseases. Besides routine clinical activities financed by the Ministry of Health, the Laboratory of Retrovirology has developed clinically oriented biomedical research in the field of chronic viral infections. The activities of the laboratory focus on two research domains, which interact closely: immuno-virology and clinical virology.
Information and Registration on www.health-economics.lu
The 6th Benelux Bioinformatics Conference (BBC11) was hosted in Luxembourg on 12 and 13 December 2011. CRP-Santé organized this international event in cooperation with other research-oriented institutions based in Luxembourg.
The article is freely available at: