HKU-Pasteur celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, it is the occasion to show you a little bit more about the people who make this lab a major research pole on infectious diseases, an innovative teaching center and a very special place for us all!
Today, meet Professor Malik Peiris, Honorary Director of HKU-Pasteur Research Pole and co-director of HKU-Pasteur Research Pole since 2006 to July 2020. Prof Peiris is a world-renowned clinical and public health virologist with a particular interest in emerging virus disease at the animal-human interface including influenza, coronaviruses and others.
On this occasion, discover more about HKU-Pasteur’s role as a leader in international scale projects:
HKU-Pasteur also leads a number of global projects. Roberto Bruzzone is the Chair of the International Severe Acute Respiratory and Emerging Infection Consortium, a network of networks that aims to ensure clinical researchers have the open access protocols and data-sharing processes needed to facilitate a rapid response to emerging diseases. Leo Poon, the new Co-Director of the HKU-Pasteur Research Pole, serves on WHO working groups for the diagnostics of influenza and COVID-19 and assisted over 70 countries to establish diagnostic capacity in the early phases of the COVID-19 pandemic. Malik Peiris Honorary Director, continues to serve on a number of WHO working groups in relation to both influenza and coronaviruses and is the Co-Director of the WHO reference laboratories for H5 influenza and COVID-19 at HKU.
The development of a cluster of excellence on respiratory and emerging viruses within a global network has enabled the HKU-Pasteur Research Pole to exploit the translational potential arising from its scientific discoveries. This long-term strategy has borne fruit with the establishment of a Center for Immunology & Infection at the Hong Kong Science & Technology Parks, a new chapter in the partnership between HKU and the Institut Pasteur, which will open in 2021.
Many key questions about the emergence, transmission and pathogenesis of seasonal viruses, such as influenza and pandemic ones such as the new SARS-CoV-2, remain unanswered. With its strategic location, HKU-Pasteur is well placed to be at the forefront of an early warning and response system to emerging infectious diseases, and thus to fulfill its core mission.
To know more about the research he conducts at HKU-Pasteur and other researchers from the Pole, browse the HKU-Pasteur Research Pole 20th Anniversary Book, 60 pages tracing back 20 years of research, teaching, activities and more!