Jennifer participated in the 2013 COHRED Colloquium on March 26-27 in Geneva. The colloquium focused on the monitoring and evaluation of investments in global health research. While in Switzerland, Jennifer met with Solomon Nwaka, Acting Director, African Network of Drugs and Diagnostics Innovation (ANDI) together with Konji Sebati , Senior Director, World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). Solomon was impressed with the achievements of WIPO Re:Search to date and expressed interest in the capacity building arrangements where researchers from African Institutions will be hosted at Academic and Industry organizations in 2013. The WIPO Re:Search Annual Meeting was discussed along with plans to host that meeting alongside ANDI's annual meeting in October 2013.

Following the COHRED Colloquium, Jennifer and Tom Bombelles (WIPO) traveled to Lyon, France with Martin Bernhardt and Amandine Roux from Sanofi. Martin and Amandine organized a meeting with Sanofi and Sanofi Pasteur colleagues to increase awareness of WIPO Re:Search and how the Partnership Hub facilitates collaborations. Discussions were helpful for both sides to better understand partnering interests and opportunities. Sanofi Pasteur participants expressed their interest in engaging in WIPO Re:Search and exploring partnership opportunities through the consortium.

The U.S. National Institute of Health (NIH) has contributed a vaccine composition that contains an immunologically effective amount of PmPD protein from Chlamydia trachomatis, the causative agent of trachoma. PmpD is an antigenically stable pan-neutralizing target that, in theory, would provide protection against all human chlamydial strains, thus allowing the development of a univalent vaccine that is efficacious against both blinding trachoma and sexually transmitted disease.     

Roopa Ramamoorthi, Associate Director of Partnering and Scientific Affairs, embarked on a month-long journey across India to meet with and recruit Indian organizations to WIPO Re:Search. She attended two scientific meetings, met with many researchers and organizations working in global health and neglected tropical diseases. Here are a few highlights from her journey.

During the "CTDDR-2013 : Drug Development for Orphan/Neglected Diseases" meeting in Lucknow, Roopa had the opportunity to speak with representatives from Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi), the London School of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, and Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV). Conversations focused on existing WIPO Re:Search collaborations and opened the door for new partnerships between consortia members. Roopa reached out to Samir Brahmahchari, Director General of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research and Tushar Chakraborty, Director of the Central Drug Research Institute to inform them about WIPO Re:Search and encourage their participation in the consortium. She had a productive conversation with Seyed Hasnian, Professor from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi and is following up to recruit IIT Delhi to WIPO Re:Search.

After the CTDDR conference, Roopa visited the International Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB) in Delhi. She met with Virander Chauhan, Director ICGEB and many faculty members to learn about their research and recruit ICGEB to WIPO Re:Search. She also discussed collaboration possibilities with Anmol Chandele, faculty member at the Emory-ICGEB center, presented WIPO Re:Search and met with Emory-ICGEB postdoctoral researchers.

In Delhi, Roopa met with Chandrima Shaha, Director of the National Institute of Immunology to present and discuss the process of joining WIPO Re:Search. The National Institute of Immunology (NII) is an institution supported by the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India, committed to advanced research addressing the basic mechanisms involved in body's defense, host-pathogen interactions and related areas.

At the IMAPAC Vaccine World Summit in Pune, Roopa spoke with Davinder Gill, CEO of Hilleman Laboratories about their collaboration interests. Hilleman Laboratories is a joint venture between Merck and the Wellcome Trust. The vaccines conference also provided an opportunity to meet with leaders from Indian vaccine manufacturers including Serum Institute, Indian Immunologicals and Bharat Biotech.

Roopa's meeting with Shrishendu Mukherjee, Senior Strategic Adviser at the Wellcome Trust was very informative and she learned more about the India Initiative on R&D for Affordable Healthcare.