“We have an emergency biological intervention cell that works 24/24, 7 days a week,” says Christophe d’Enfert, professor at the Pasteur Institute.

Wednesday October 4, the Pasteur Institute launches the 2023 edition of Pasteurdonan annual donation collection operation to support research. With the Rugby World Cup and the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, scientists are on deck. For what ? “We saw it, when we has a lot of people together, there are risks of infectious diseases and food contamination. So we have an emergency biological intervention unit at the Pasteur Institute which works 24/7 and 7 days a week to meet the demand for health emergencies. (…) We have a mobile laboratory which is controlled by this cell”explains Christophe d’Hellprofessor at the Pasteur Institute.

Work on Covid-19

The Institute is still working on Covid-19. “Our teams are still mobilized on the study of Covid. They were enormously mobilized from January 2020. (…) There, we entered the long term with a more in-depth understanding of this disease, long Covid”indicates the professor. Asked about stopping the development of a Covid vaccine, he replied: “It’s a disappointment for the teams who were in charge of this project. […] I think you have to see the glass half full. The Institut Pasteur was extremely present during this crisis on diagnostic tests, on the evaluation of variants, on modeling.”