Located at the University City of USP, in a space of 2 thousand square meters, the Institut Pasteur de São Paulo has 17 laboratories – four of them at biosafety level 3 –, a bioinformatics unit, and several multi-user laboratories. When fully operational, it will house over 80 scientists from Brazil and other countries, conducting internationally renowned research on communicable, non-communicable, emerging, re-emerging, neglected, and degenerative diseases, including progressive neurodegenerative diseases.

“With the inauguration of the Institut Pasteur de São Paulo, we are now integrated into a network of various laboratories around the world. This elevates USP’s research, which is already recognized for its quality, to a new level, with the presence of international researchers bringing new methodologies and access to knowledge generated in different regions. Certainly, with the science that will be developed here, we will be better prepared to face future pandemics, for example,” explained Rector Carlos Gilberto Carlotti Junior.

For the director of the Institut Pasteur, Yasmine Belkaid, “the inauguration of the Institut Pasteur de São Paulo confirms our strong commitment to our Brazilian partners, to work in close partnership for the health of all, both locally and internationally. Today, to address new global challenges, it is essential to study the impact of climate change on health and the conditions for the emergence of new pathogens. The scientific community must commit to a plural and collective approach, through the creation of multidisciplinary and international institutions.”

French President Emmanuel Macron bids farewell to the leaders of USP – Photo: Cecília Bastos/USP Images.

The ceremony also featured the presence of the French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Stéphane Séjourné; the State Secretary for Science, Technology, and Innovation, Vahan Agopyan; the executive director of the Institut Pasteur de São Paulo, Paola Minopri; the president of Fapesp, Marco Antonio Zago; the administrative director of Fapesp and president of the IPSP Council, Fernando Menezes; the vice-president of the IPSP Council, François Romaneix; the president of CNRS, Antoine Petit; the French Ambassador to Brazil, Sylvie Lemmet; the Consul General of France in São Paulo, Yves Teyssier D’Orfeuil; and leaders of the University.

The visit to USP is part of the French president’s agenda in Brazil. In São Paulo, besides the inauguration of the IPSP at the University, Macron also participated in the Brazil-France Economic Forum and met with Vice-President Geraldo Alckmin, Finance Minister Fernando Haddad, and Brazilian entrepreneurs at the Federation of Industries of the State of São Paulo (Fiesp).

Institut Pasteur de São Paulo

As a member of the Pasteur Network, the new Institut Pasteur de São Paulo will conduct research in the field of biology that contributes to the development of human health and will promote outreach, education, innovation, and knowledge transfer activities, as well as public health measures, especially in the context of climate change. This is the first unit of the French research center in Brazil.

The new research center is the result of an agreement signed between the Institut Pasteur and USP, back in 2017. Under the agreement, the institutions committed to developing the Pasteur-USP Scientific Platform (SPPU), inaugurated in June 2019, under the joint coordination of Institut Pasteur representative, Paola Minoprio, and Professor at the Institute of Biomedical Sciences (ICB) of USP, Luís Carlos Souza Ferreira.

Initially, the SPPU had five research teams. With the COVID-19 pandemic, a sixth team was formed to study the virus and the disease. The SPPU also joined the USP Network for COVID-19 Diagnosis (Rudic), a task force for large-scale diagnostics composed of various laboratories in the state of São Paulo. Currently, seven research teams are operating in the institute, and together, they have already published more than 90 scientific articles.

The new Institut Pasteur de São Paulo will assume the rights and obligations of the SPPU and will remain as an associated member of the Pasteur Network, which brings together researchers from around 20 countries.

“This ceremony marks the result of years of dedicated collaboration with our esteemed partners, including USP, Fapesp, Institut Pasteur, and the Pasteur Network. It represents a significant milestone not only for our institute but also for its talented teams, whose tireless efforts have turned our vision into reality since its inauguration in 2019. With unwavering commitment, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, they have left a mark on the history of our institution,” said the executive director of the Institut Pasteur de São Paulo, Paola Minoprio.

International Research Center of CNRS at USP

In addition to the Institut Pasteur de São Paulo, also on March 27th, the President of the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), Antoine Petit, inaugurated the “Worlds in Transitions” International Research Center of CNRS at USP.

“CNRS is the largest French public research institution. We conduct research in all fields of knowledge, and international collaboration is a priority for us. We always seek to establish collaboration with the best research institutions in the world, and USP has a special role among Brazilian universities, as shown by university rankings,” emphasized Petit.

For Rector Carlos Gilberto Carlotti Junior, “USP believes that internationalization is an extremely important tool to improve the training of our students and enhance the quality of our research. First, we invested in researchers’ mobility; then, in the development of joint research. Now, we are seeking to establish partnerships with various international laboratories, bringing foreign researchers to work with our researchers, studying problems together.”

The center is expected to promote collaboration between the two institutions in high-quality research and academic training, involving both institutional governance and the scientific community. Research will initially focus on seven main areas: humanities, oceans, decarbonization, biodiversity, high-performance computing, immunology, and quantum technologies.

“We are very pleased that the State of São Paulo attracts international institutions of the caliber of CNRS, offering conditions and a good environment for scientific development. Our main challenge is to translate the excellence of the research conducted here into innovation. In this aspect, we have much to learn from CNRS,” said the State Secretary for Science, Technology, and Innovation, Vahan Agopyan, representing Governor Tarcísio de Freitas.

The President of the São Paulo Research Foundation (Fapesp), Marco Antonio Zago, emphasized that “this collaboration between CNRS and USP is part of the strategy to bring important research institutions to establish themselves permanently in Brazil, creating opportunities to increase international scientific collaboration.”

This will be the fifth center of CNRS in partnership with a university. Similar partnerships have already been established with the University of Arizona and the University of Chicago (United States), Imperial College London (United Kingdom), and the University of Tokyo (Japan).

Antoine Petit, Executive Director of CNRS, and Rector Carlos Gilberto Carlotti Junior unveil the plaque inaugurating the CNRS International Research Center headquartered at USP, alongside Marco Antonio Zago, President of Fapesp, and Vahan Agopyan, Secretary of Science, Technology, and Innovation of the State of São Paulo – Photo: Marcos Santos/USP Images.