This discovery has been made by an international research team working in the INSERM Research Unit in the Wellcome Centre for Molecular Parasitology (WCMP) at the University of Glasgow. The new Unit will be officially opened at the University of Glasgow on 15 September 2005

Professor Christian Br￩chot, Head of the French Government's national medical research funding agency INSERM, will attend the opening ceremony of the first INSERM-funded laboratory established at a university outside France.

In a novel approach to international biomedical research, INSERM has joined with the Wellcome Trust and the University of Glasgow to overcome national boundaries and establish a cooperative programme of research in molecular and biochemical parasitology in the Wellcome Centre for Molecular Parasitology (WCMP), University of Glasgow.

Professor Doerig and his team relocated from Paris to set up the venture using start-up funds from INSERM and the Wellcome Trust. The new Unit now has substantial funding from INSERM (who support approximately 350 Research Units across France) and other French governmental agencies, including the French Embassy in London and the European Commission. The unit will also be able to seek further funding within the UK.

The Wellcome Centre for Molecular Parasitology is an internationally renowned centre for molecular and genetic study of the parasites causing some of the major human and other animal diseases of the world. Prof Doerig's research programme, which is directed at unravelling the mechanisms whereby malaria parasites multiply and develop in the human body and the mosquito vector, is complementary to a number of the projects within the Centre. The team have already discovered a gene vital to the transmission of the malaria parasite to mosquitoes in the Glasgow laboratory, and the search for inhibitory drugs is on. It is envisaged that the cooperative venture will evolve further in the new multidisciplinary Glasgow Biomedical Research Centre, which includes WCMP, when it opens later this year.

This first in European scientific collaboration and funding represents considerable vision by the three partners in an era where joint research is becoming essential - as illustrated by the European Research Area framework established by the European Commission. An added benefit for the parasitology research community in Glasgow is INSERM's policy of facilitating movement of staff amongst its Units, which has already resulted in the appointment of Dr. Luc Reininger, a senior INSERM researcher previously based in Marseille. The influx of French researchers has provided a cultural boost to the parasitologists of Glasgow.

In another first supported by the Scottish Executive and the French Embassy, and prompted by the establishment of the new INSERM Unit, a new international PhD training programme has been established. Its first student, a member of the Glasgow INSERM Unit, graduated jointly from The Universite Pierre et Marie Curie (Paris VI) and the University of Glasgow. In addition, two UK students funded by the Wellcome Trust PhD programme at the University of Glasgow are joining the INSERM team for their PhD studies, demonstrating the truly transnational spirit of this enterprise.

Alexandra Mackay

Notes for editors:

For further information contact:
Prof Dave Barry, Director, Wellcome Centre for Molecular Parasitology
Tel 0141 330 3579 (gbga05@bio.gla.ac.uk)

Prof Christian Doerig, Director, Inserm Unit, Wellcome Centre for Molecular Parasitology
Tel 0141 339 8855 Ext 6201 (cdoer001@udcf.gla.ac.uk)

First published: 14 September 2005