The LPE addresses public health issues on infectious diseases, the research focusing particularly in pulmonary infections such as community-acquired pneumonia and tuberculosis, as well as in fevers in developing and emerging countries. Our activities are structured around development of new diagnostic tools, training, technology transfer and epidemiology. The LPE carries out multicenter studies in the international research laboratory network of Fondation Mérieux – GABRIEL*. Research activities include: (i) the immunomodulation of virus and viral/bacterial respiratory co-infections, aiming at decrypting host-pathogen interactions and identifying biomarkers for diagnosis and prognosis of pneumonia; (ii) genetic polymorphism responsible for the virulence of the pathogen; (iii) tuberculosis resistance transmission; (iv) fevers (respiratory, hemorrhagic and enteric); and (v) surveillance programs on viral and bacterial infections. Many of these pathogens, especially those carrying antimicrobial resistance, are emerging or re-emerging and some have a pandemic potential.
The LPE is at the 6th floor of the CIRI building, with a surface of 450 square meters: BSL-2 and BSL-3 laboratories and offices. Through its collaborative agreement with the Institute of Biomedical Research from the French Army (IRBA), the LPE has access to the BSL-4, for the research program on Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever.
The laboratory collaborates with research institutions from Africa, Central and Eastern Europe, South and South-East Asia, and South and Central Americas, converging needs from the field partners and developing molecular laboratory strategies.
*www.gabriel-network.org


Key words: Respiratory infections; Respiratory co-infections; Pneumonia; Multi-Drug Resistant Tuberculosis (MDR-TB); Haemorrhagic fevers; Enteric fever; Biodiversity in pneumonia; Diagnostics; Disease burden; Molecular Epidemiology; Tuberculosis genotyping for disease transmissibility; Whole Genome Sequencing