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COVID-19 Updates

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IPC Governance

IPC Governance

The Institut Pasteur du Cambodge (IPC) has developed technologies for the diagnosis of emerging infectious diseases, incorporating special care in the standardization of techniques through ongoing external quality controls.

 

This expertise is based on highly qualified motivated employees working in a safe and functional professional environment. This highly performing professional environment is applied from the Medical Biology Laboratory (accredited ISO 15189), the Laboratory for Environment and Food Safety and the vaccination centers to all research activities on emerging infectious diseases. 

 

The IPC has largely improved its equipment for research and public health programs thanks to multiple grants with international research institutions/development partners, and the support from the Institut Pasteur in Paris.

 

The Institut Pasteur du Cambodge owns seven BLS-2 laboratories (incl. 2 BLS-2+) for handling hazardous microorganisms but not fatal for humans or for which vaccines and treatments exists such as tuberculosis, rabies, respiratory viruses classics etc. Those BLS-2 laboratories are placed in a depression zone and entrance is through an airlock. Pathogens are handled in vertical laminar flow hoods to protect the operator.  In addition, since 2008, the IPC hosts a high level biosafety (BSL-3) laboratory for service and research purposes (four modules occupied for MDR and XDR-TB, H5N1 Avian flu, COVID-19), new or unknown viruses isolated from severe human cases, and one animal (ASL-3) facility for research projects on virus transmission and pathophysiology experiments. This infrastructure is unique in Cambodia and there are very few such functional laboratories in the Greater Mekong sub-region.

 

In the last 5 years, IPC has/will:

  • Implement a regional platform (PR-Asia) for research on transmissible infections and emerging pathogens (funded by INSERM, ANRS, IRD, Fondation Mérieux and Institut Pasteur) built up in 2013 to provide new facilities for researchers working on transversal projects with the IPC which is now fully functional;
  • Renovate the immunology facility to provide expertise on cellular immune responses to infections, with emphasis on NK cell activation during HIV, HIV/TB, rabies, flu and dengue infections. The platform is now equipped with a BD FACSAria III cell sorter available to non-IPC scientific partners (acquisition through Wellcome Trust and GIZ co-financing);
  • Renovate and expand animal facilities and has built up an insectarium. However, this infrastructure is too limited and a new building is planned for the end of 2021 with support from the European Commission (to be confirmed);
  • Acquire a mobile laboratory for on-site blood sample analysis in remote areas of Cambodia;
  • Equip the Medical Biology Laboratory (accredited ISO 15189) with a MALDI-TOF Mass Spectrometry, a Roche COBAS 4800, a BD FACSAria II flow cytometer;
  • Extend capacity for molecular biology in the Virology Unit, Malaria Unit, and the AMR group including GenXpert for TB, GenXpert for COVID-19, automated DNA/RNA extraction for COVID-19, additional thermocyclers, LAMP for malaria and TB, and a new Luminex MAGPix. All this equipment has been acquired with the support of development partners, research projects or private donators;
  • In 2021; equip IPC with a mini sequencing platform Illumina MiSeq to complement the MinION Oxford Nanopore technologies due to the increasing need for NGS (support from the French Agency for Development and from the European Commission);
  • In addition, upgrade of the BLS-3 facility is ongoing with the addition of one cell imager in the BLS-3 and a second in one of the BLS-2 facility (support from GIZ). The maintenance of the lab facilities (including BLS-3) is coordinated by an engineer and his group qualified on hygiene, safety, quality and metrology with the support from external highly specialized companies;
  • In 2021, the Metrology shared service and the Laboratory for Environment and Food Hygiene are preparing their ISO 17025 accreditation as part of the IPC’s continuous effort to promote high quality in services and research.
  • The technical platforms are open to other scientific organizations, for training and research programs, in collaboration with our IPC teams.