** Welcome to the first Newsletter of the MediLabSecure Project **

You will find a brief summary of the activities that have taken place in the last months and some information about the future ones. Enjoy!

Building the Network

¤ 57 Laboratories are now part of the MediLabSecure Network in the 19 countries!

Building a network starts by finding the appropriate members! Our team has been in contact with numerous labs in the 19 beneficiary coutries. After analysis of the returned selection questionnaires we have selected laboratories to be part of the 3 networks: Animal Virology, Human Virology and Medical Entomology. We have now 57 labs actively involved in the MediLabSecure Network! Additionally, 12 Public Health Institutes and 8 Ministries of Health of the 19 countries are involved in the activities.

Have a look at the network members.

Beneficiary countries: Albania, Algeria, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Egypt, Georgia, Jordan, Kosovo*, Lebanon, Libya, Moldova, Montenegro, Morocco, Palestine, Serbia, The Republic of Macedonia, Tunisia, Turkey and Ukraine.

*This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244 and ICJ Advisory opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence.

First Meeting in January 2015 in Paris

¤ The Heads of selected Laboratories were invited in Paris for our first meeting

Creating a network is before all a matter of bringing people together. The Heads of Labs meeting was the first opportunity for people in the Network to meet, across disciplines and geographical areas. The actions planed by the MediLabSecure project were exposed and discussions on the needs and expectations of the participating labs have been going on.

3 Trainings sessions during June 2015

¤ Workshops have taken place in France, Spain and Serbia in the 3 Networks

Capacity building is one key objective of the MediLabSecure project and this starts also with hands on training. Last June, one-week trainings have been offered to our participating laboratories. See below for more details!
Protocols, SOPs, Lectures and all material used during the workshops are ready for download in the partner area of the MediLabSecure Website.

The Human Virology Workshop was held at the Institut Pasteur in Paris (France) on 8-12th June 2015. It focused on serology and molecular techniques to detect viruses such as chikungunya and West Nile viruses. Both theoretical and practical aspects were covered by international experts.

The Medical Entomology Workshop took place at the Faculty of Agriculture in Novi Sad (Serbia) from 8th to 12th June 2015. It was kindly hosted by the lab of Prof. Marija Zgomba and Dr. Dušan Petrić. A mix of lectures, hands on lab work and field activities allowed the participants to strengthen their knowledge in medical entomology, in particular on species identification.

The Animal Virology Workshop was conducted at CISA-INIA in Madrid (Spain) on June 15-19th. The main focus was on the molecular diagnosis of relevant zoonotic arboviruses. The 17 trainees had the opportunity to work in the biosafety level-3 laboratories with pathogens such as Rift Valley Fever and West Nile.

Agenda : Upcoming MediLabSceure Events

Entomology Workshop in Turkey in September

¤ The next training in entomology will take place in Ankara

The Medical Entomology team is going to Ankara (Turkey) to offer the second training in cooperation with the lab of Prof. Bulent Alten at the Faculty of Science of Hacettepe University. This training will take place between 7-11th September 2015.

**Next Rendez-Vous : Midterm Project Meeting in Paris in December**

¤ The meeting will take place on December 15th at Institut Pasteur

Our next big event to carry on strengthning our network is to get together all our laboratories, together with epidemiologists from each country. This will also be the opportunity to gather our scientific advisory board to get feedback on our actions and future directions. The meeting will encompass updates from the MediLabSecure Team, scientific talks by experts on relevant topics to the project activities and group sessions to encourage interactions between the different networks.

Download the leaflet giving an overview of the project scope and objectives

Visit the Ressource Tab of the MediLabSecure Website to download Guidelines from WHO, ECDC,.. relevant to the project activities..

See how we promote the MediLabSecure project. Poster and powerpoint presentations are available for download. Visit the web page.

VECTOR AND DISEASE : AN EXHIBITION

MediLabSecure supported the creation of a remarkable exhibition on vectors produced by IRD

What do plague, malaria and chikungunya have in common?
These diseases and many others—or more precisely the causal agents responsible—are spread by 'vectors'. A vector is a transmission agent for microscopic organisms that cause diseases; these are spread to humans and animals by biting.

The exhibition shows a broad range of vectors and also discusses the research conducted by scientists to gain better knowledge of them in order to organise control.

Visit the webpage and download the PDF of the 17 panels..