Global Virus Network (GVN) Adds Renowned Institut Pasteur Korea (IPK) to Combat Viral Diseases
Baltimore, Maryland, USA, March 22, 2021: The Global Virus Network (GVN), representing 62 Centers of Excellence and 11 Affiliates in 34 countries comprising foremost experts in every class of virus causing disease in humans, and the Institut Pasteur Korea (IPK) announced today the addition of the IPK as GVN’s newest Center of Excellence.
“We are pleased to strengthen GVN’s presence in Asia with the terrific addition of IPK,” said Christian Bréchot, MD, PhD, who is President of the GVN and Professor at the University of South Florida. “As a member of the Institut Pasteur International Network (IPIN), IPK has excellent opportunities for scientific cooperation with 31 other IPIN members located in 25 countries, in addition to the Global Virus Network’s reach.”
The Institut Pasteur Korea (IPK) is an international research institute focused on addressing global health issues with a combination of cutting-edge approaches in order to understand disease mechanisms and develop new treatments. By promoting multi-disciplinary projects, IPK is at the forefront of drug discovery and contributes to Korea’s future scientific resources through research, education, and technological innovation. The latest GVN Center is led by Youngmee Jee, MD, PhD, Chief Executive Officer of the Institut Pasteur Korea (IPK) and Special Advisor to the Prime Minister in health and Special Representative for Health Diplomacy, Korea Foundation.
“IPK is pleased to join our South Korean colleagues at the International Vaccine Institute (IVI) as a Center of Excellence of the GVN,” said Dr. Jee. “We look forward to contributing to the GVN Task Forces, such as GVN’s Coronavirus Task Force, leveraging translational technology with interdisciplinary research efforts, establishing exchange programs, engaging in training, participating in prominent GVN meetings and expanding international collaborative projects with the GVN on emerging infectious diseases.”
IPK combines front-line biology, IT, and chemistry, with innovative cell-based drug discovery platforms that identify novel molecular targets for potential new therapies to treat diseases. With world-class drug discovery capabilities and a talented team drawn from all over the world, IPK scientists aim to uncover various physiological and pathological processes to devise new strategies for diagnosing, preventing, and treating infectious diseases. IPK currently focuses on global infectious diseases that represent today’s health challenges, such as emerging zoonotic and vector-borne diseases such as SARS-CoV2, MERS-CoV, Severe Fever with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome (SFTS), Zika virus, Dengue virus, and Ebola virus, as well as hepatitis viruses (B, C, D, and E), influenza, and has a plan to establish a comprehensive platform for therapeutics research on emerging viral diseases (Disease X).
“South Korea, and in particular IPK and IVI, are instrumental in expanding not just GVN’s reach, but unparalleled expertise and commitment to drive scientific truth above all else,” said Robert Gallo, MD, The Homer & Martha Gudelsky Distinguished Professor in Medicine, Co-Founder and Director of the Institute of Human Virology (IHV) at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, a GVN Center of Excellence, and Co-Founder and International Scientific Advisor of the GVN.
About the Global Virus Network (GVN)
The Global Virus Network (GVN) is essential and critical in the preparedness, defense and first research response to emerging, existing and unidentified viruses that pose a clear and present threat to public health, working in close coordination with established national and international institutions. It is a coalition comprised of eminent human and animal virologists from 62 Centers of Excellence and 11 Affiliates in 34 countries worldwide, working collaboratively to train the next generation, advance knowledge about how to identify and diagnose pandemic viruses, mitigate and control how such viruses spread and make us sick, as well as develop drugs, vaccines and treatments to combat them. No single institution in the world has expertise in all viral areas other than the GVN, which brings together the finest medical virologists to leverage their individual expertise and coalesce global teams of specialists on the scientific challenges, issues and problems posed by pandemic viruses. The GVN is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization. For more information, please visit www.gvn.org. Follow us on Twitter @GlobalVirusNews
About the Institut Pasteur Korea (IPK)
Institut Pasteur Korea (IPK) is an infectious disease-focused research institute located in the Rep. of Korea. To address the unmet global health issues, the talented team of IPK drawn from worldwide utilizes the proprietary cell-based screening platforms to understand disease mechanisms and accelerate the new therapeutics discovery. IPK is a member of the Institut Pasteur International Network (IPIN), constituting 32 member institutes in 25 countries across the five continents, where it plays a key role in driving early drug discovery. By providing fundamental technologies to bridge between Korean and international bio-pharma science and promoting multi-disciplinary projects, IPK stands at the forefront of drug discovery research that contributes to Korea’s scientific, intellectual, and technical resources. (www.ip-korea.org)
Media Contact:
Nora Samaranayake, GVN
410-706-1966
[email protected]
Jieun Kim, IPK
+82-31-8018-8041
[email protected]