October 2013
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A Note from Jennifer
Dear WIPO Re:Search Members and Friends, 

  

With the change of the season, BVGH is changing, too. I am pleased to announce that Linda Venczel has joined our team. Linda brings with her a breadth of experience working on global health issues at several leading organizations including PAHO, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and most recently, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Please join me in welcoming Linda to our team!
 
I am proud to be a representative and member of the Access to Medicine Index's Technical Sub Committee for the 2013-2014 report. The Index was reviewed in an article published in The New England Journal of Medicine. See the publication below. 
 
I am very pleased to welcome four new Members to WIPO Re:Search: Institut Pasteur Korea; Institut Pasteur de Tunis; University of Mauritius; and University of Vermont. 
 
As a reminder, the 2013 WIPO Re:Search Annual Meeting will be held on October 21st in Dakar, Senegal. For more information about the event or to RSVP, email Cecilia Mann at WIPO before October 10th. 
 
Don't forget to join the 2013 WIPO Re:Search Member Workshop at ASTMH on November 13th! Contact Katy Graef for information or to RSVP. 
 
Please forward the Snapshot to your colleagues and reach out to us with any partnering requests or ideas! 


Sincerely,

 Jennifer Dent

President, BVGH 
 
SaveSave the Date - 2013 WIPO Re:Search Annual Meeting

When: October 21, 2013, 9am - 4pm
Where: King Fahd Palace Hotel, Dakar, Senegal 
 
The Annual Meeting is for WIPO Re:Search Members and will take place immediately prior to the Seventh EDCTP Forum.
workshopSave the Date - 2013 WIPO Re:Search Member Workshop

When: November 13, 2013 11am - 4pm
Where: Hotel Palomar, Washington DC - 2121 P Street, NW
How: If you would like to attend, please email Katy Graef
Transportation: Hotel Palomar is located less than 2 miles from the location of the ASTMH meeting (Marriott Wardman Park Hotel). Both hotels are located within walking distance of the Washington DC Metro subway Red Line.
  
This year Jennifer Dent has been a representative and member of the Access to Medicine Index's Technical Sub Committee, responsible for developing the 2013 - 2014 report. Seven of the WIPO Re:Search founding pharmaceutical members are represented in the Index. 
 
Last month, Hans V. Hogerzeil, Professor of Global Health, University of Groningen, published an article in The New England Journal of Medicine describing the Index and its positive influence on industry's commitment to improving access to medicines in the developing world. Hans concluded that, "...improving access to essential medicines for the poor in developing and emerging countries is no longer seen as ad hoc company philanthropy but rather as another sustainable way to do profitable business - by serving the long-term needs of 2 billion new customers..." Click here to read the full article. 

 

This past September, Roopa Ramamoorthi traveled to Palo Alto to present WIPO Re:Search to members of Stanford University's SPARK program. Stanford created the SPARK program to provide its researchers with a way to overcome the obstacles associated with transitioning basic biomedical R&D to the bedside.

 

 

 

 

 

Two new collaborations were finalized last month. GSK agreed to supply Pushkar Sharma, Staff Scientist, National Institute of Immunology in New Delhi, India, with a set of kinase inhibitors. Pushkar will use these inhibitors to study the function of certain kinases in malaria.

 


 
 
 
The  AZ Logo 1 Eskitis Institute in Queensland, Australia, will share samples from its natural products library with AstraZeneca. Scientists at AstraZeneca's Bangalore, India site will screen the extracts against M. tuberculosis in a whole cell assay.

 

 

  
 
This month we are pleased to announce that the Institut Pasteur Korea, Institut Pasteur de Tunis, University of Mauritius, and University of Vermont have joined WIPO Re:Search.
 
Located in Seongnam, South Korea, the Institut Pasteur Korea is a world-class translational research institute, renowned as a center of excellence in biomedical research and technology development. The Institut has five program centers, including the Early Discovery Program, which focuses on streamlining drug discovery, the Late Discovery Program, which focuses on turning hit compounds into advanced leads, and the Center for Neglected Diseases, which focuses on malaria, leishmaniasis, Chagas disease, and dengue. 
 
 
 
Founded in 1893, Institut Pasteur de Tunis (IPT) is the most important health research institute in Tunisia, which celebrates its 120th anniversary this year. Its three missions are research and training, diagnosis and public health activities, and vaccine and serum manufacturing. In response to the socio-economic challenges, IPT with the support of its knowledge transfer office, is working to assist knowledge, scientific, and technological transfer to promote public-private partnership in biotechnology applied  to health, especially in neglected diseases. "It's a pleasure to become a member of the WIPO Re:Search consortium as provider and user. We look forward to have enriching exchanges with members of the network and to have new partnership opportunities on neglected diseases projects," said Hechmi Louzir, President, Institut Pasteur de Tunis. 
 
 
The University of Mauritius, located in Réduit, in western Mauritius, was founded in 1965. Research at the University of Mauritius is a blend of fundamental and applied sciences, including the pharmacology of marine organisms, polymer therapeutics and drug delivery, and molecular parasitology. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The University of Vermont's College of Medicine boasts Departments of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Pharmacology, and Biochemistry, among others. The College of Medicine is also home to the Vaccine Testing Center, which focuses on vaccine development and understanding the immunology of infectious diseases of global consequence.
PHCPartnership Hub Central

  

With the financial support of the Australian government, BVGH worked with WIPO to arrange sabbaticals at WIPO Re:Search member institutions for several African researchers.

This October, both Wellington Oyibo, Associate Professor, College of Medicine, University of Lagos, Nigeria, and Fidelis Cho-Ngwa, Associate Professor of Biochemistry, University of Buea, Cameroon, entered the final month of their stay at Novartis' headquarters in Basel, Switzerland.
 
  
 
 
Wellington noted that the sabbatical was "a life-improving experience for my research and teaching; my expectations at the end of this sabbatical are high." 
 
From left to right: Fidelis Cho-Ngwa, University of Buea, Wellington Oyibo, University of Lagos, Dominic Ehrismann, Novartis, and Petra Kiel, Novartis
 
 
In June, Olfat Hammam, Professor of Pathology, Theodor Bilharz Research Institute, Egypt, began her one-year sabbatical at Stanford University in the laboratory of Michael Hsieh, Assistant Professor of Urology. During her sabbatical, Olfat will be working on a research project focusing on schistosomal bladder carcinogenesis and fibrosis.
 
 
Olfat noted that, "I have benefited from my interactions, seeing how researchers at Stanford think and sharing ideas.  I have experience in pathology and many techniques, but I like to see how techniques are performed here so that I can learn something." Olfat hopes that her collaboration with Michael will continue after she returns to Egypt. 
 
Michael Hsieh and Olfat Hammam
Last month, Roopa traveled to Stanford to meet with several researchers, including Shirit Einav, Assistant Professor, Microbiology & Immunology, Medicine - Infectious Diseases. Shirit discussed her projects repurposing drugs as possible dengue treatments. Roopa also had the opportunity to hear Olfat Hammam present her schistosomiasis research during Michael Hsieh's group meeting. 
 
 
 
Roopa also heard Christian Agyare, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana, speak about his drug discovery utilizing natural products for wound healing and to treat NTDs. Christian is currently being hosted by Conor Caffrey, Associate Researcher, Center for Discovery and Innovation in Parasitic Diseases, UCSF, during his sabbatical arranged by BVGH and WIPO.
 
 
 
Conor Caffrey, UCSF, Christian Agyare, KNUST, Michael Hsieh, Stanford, Olfat Hammam, TBRI, Roopa Ramamoorthi, BVGH
 
HCHighlighted Contributions 

  

Featured this month are two contributions submitted by the African Institute of Biomedical Science and Technology (AiBST) to the WIPO Re:Search Database.
 
 
AiBST is an African Network for Drugs and Diagnostics Innovation (ANDI) Center of Excellence in DMPK and toxicology and can provide researchers with access to its DMPK platform to evaluate new chemical entities for safety and efficacy. 
 
AiBST has a Biobank with DNA samples from populations from across Africa. They are willing to entertain collaborations with WIPO Re:Search members undertaking biomarker research for safety and efficacy of medicines in various African populations. 

 

 

For more information or to discuss potential collaborations regarding this technology, please contact Roopa Ramamoorthi.  
WIPOWIPO Re:Search in the News  
 
  BVGH issued a press release last month announcing the 30th WIPO Re:Search collaboration. The release, which described several WIPO Re:Search collaborations, was followed-up with an article by Seattle's KOMO News focusing on Seattle-based WIPO Re:Search collaborations. Click here to read the article and interviews with Ken Stuart, Found er and Professor, Seattle BioMed, and Wesley Van Voorhis, Professor and Head, Division of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, University of Washington.
EventsTableUpcoming Global Health Events

Dates
Event Title
Location
Web Link
 Oct.21-24
Seventh EDCTP Forum
Dakar, Senegal
Nov. 1-7
ASTMH 62nd Annual Meeting
Washington, DC

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