Air Liquide Foundation: Launch by Institut Pasteur of Shanghai of a research program on respiratory infections

The origin of many respiratory diseases still remains unknown, making their diagnosis difficult. In Shanghai (China), for example, 40% of all respiratory ailments are not correctly identified. These diseases strike all generations and are often incapacitating.They are the leading cause of infant mortality.

On 10 April, the Air Liquide Foundation and Institut Pasteur of Shanghai will sign a partnership to advance research on the identification and prevention of respiratory infections through a three-year research program. The researchers of Institut Pasteur of Shanghai hope, through this program, to identify the action of new viruses and develop more efficient diagnostic methods in order to improve the treatment of respiratory infections. A team of 10 scientists will be dedicated to this research program.

The research project of Institut Pasteur of Shanghai meets the need for the development of molecular biology techniques to establish more rapid and efficient medical diagnoses in the treatment of respiratory infections. These diagnostic technologies will make use of “biological microchips”, a new molecular biology technology. The research program, financed in 2009 with a grant of €50,000 by the Air Liquide Foundation, provides for:

- The study of a patient population, with the aim of developing a sampling and treatment method for biological samples;
- The standardization of the methodology for using microchips;
- The creation of a data base on the new infectious agents detected.

A better knowledge of the causes and factors of these infections will permit, in the longer term, the development of a system for monitoring and preventing epidemics in cooperation with the Chinese public health authorities.

The Air Liquide Foundation supports this program in the framework of its corporate philanthropy mission in favor of scientific research for the improvement of the respiratory function.