GEMI's Objectives

The mixed research group Génétique et Evolution des Maladies Infectieuses (genetics and evolution of infectious diseases) develops research on population genetics and dynamics, the evolutionary biology of infectious diseases and the dialogue vs. conflict between hosts and pathogens at the molecular level. Our goal is to increase knowledge on the fundamental biology of the organisms involved (pathogenic agents, hosts [principally man], vectors and reservoirs), and on qualitative/quantitative aspects of their transmission. This research spans from molecular biology to mathematical modeling, passing by experimental evolution, geometric morphology, and spatial/temporal analysis of field data. Although the GEMI conducts fundamental research, we are constantly concerned with the development of tools likely to be used by field-based researchers in the field or those in the realm of public health.

The approaches we develop are methodological and cross disciplinary. The members of GEMI are potentially interested in all infectious pathogens, whether they be viral, bacterial, parasitic or fungal.

Implantations

Principle site: IRD Montpellier, France

Secondary sites:

• IRD Center Cayenne, French Guiana
• IRD Centre Bangkok, Thailand

Developing relationships in Senegal:

Collaboration with research group Suivi démographique, épidémiologique et environnemental (Demographic, epidemiological and environmental monitoring) of Pascal Arduin (US009), in the region of Niakhar on the spatial modeling of epidemics.

Collaboration with the laboratory of Parasitology-Mycology at the University of Cheikh Anta Diop in Dakar (UR178) on a study of visceral leishmania in the Thies region of Senegal.

Research Axes

The GEMI has the particularity and originality, within the national and international scientific community, of trying to understand the ecological and evolutionary factors responsible for the dispersal of infectious diseases across the diversity of potential hosts present in natural and man-made ecosystems. These diseases concern public health, as well as that of both animals and plants.

The main themes of research tackled by the GEMI can be stated as follows :-

• interactions among local and global environmental factors influencing the evolution and dynamics of infectious diseases (quantitative epidemiology, impact of demographic and evolutionary factors...)
• an integrated analysis of the biodiversity of infectious agents, their reservoirs and their vectors, in ecosystems; the transmission of infectious agents and the process of crossing species barriers (their genetic diversity and their differential phenotypic expression)
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• In short :-
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  • Who (vectors, reservoirs) transmits What (infectious agents), Where (spatial scale), and When (temporal scale)?
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• the quantitative mechanisms of biodiversity on the epidemiology and evolution of infectious and vectorial diseases,
• the study of functional relationships between biological diversity and the risk of infection,
• genetic and molecular processes of adaption and of selection on pathogens by host immune systems, and those of xenobiotics (evolution of life history traits, virulence and resistance),
• conflicts, dialogue and molecular interactions between hosts and pathogens (parasitic manipulation, competition within co-infections),
• theoretical modeling of parameters of the emergence, propagation, diffusion and evolution of virulence and resistance,
• studies on the function and structure of the genome from protozoan parasites Leishmania to analyze the role of interactions between segregation, replication and transcription during the cell cycle,
• reproductive strategies (evolutionary and genetic consequences), co-adapted genetic structures, local adaptation and specialisation in symbiotic relationships and interactions between pathogens,
• quantitative analysis of the phenotypes of important vectors of disease, e.g., Chagas' disease, sleeping sickness, dengue and malaria

Principle partners

The GEMI group is structured into seven autonomous teams. These groups use complementary approaches and interact strongly with each other. Each of the teams has developed an important number of collaborations with other countries, being equally represented from developed and developing countries.

For developing countries, established and fruitful links were established with Latin America involving studies on leishmaniases, Chagas' disease, principally in Bolivia, Colombia, Venezuela, Argentina and Brazil and that have involved numerous students and visiting scientists. In addition, various projects have been developed with several African countries; Gabon, Senegal, Burkina Faso and others. Other strong collaborations have equally been developed in Thailand with Michel Tibayrenc, current representative of the IRD in Bangkok.

Also, a research program spanning the Amazon region financed by the National Science Foundation is being developed in association with partners in Brazil, Venezuela and Peru. It also includes research already lead by the team in French Guiana.

The group collaborates with French universities, but also with scientific groups in other countries, such as; Athens, Madison, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Irvine in the USA; Cambridge, Oxford, Edinburgh, and Leeds in the UK; Queen's University in Canada, Lausanne in Switzerland, Moscow in Russia, Kosice in Slovakia, Belem (Fiocruz and Federal university, Fundaçào Oswaldo Cruz) in Brazil, Otago in New Zealand, Seville in Spain, Copenhagen in Denmark, Rome in Italy, University of Antioquia in Columbia, and CRILAR (Conicet) and Buenos Aires University in Argentina.

Several members of the group teach in the Master's programme of Public Health of the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Santé Publique (www.ehesp.fr) and are participating in the development of a collaborative multidisciplinary research centre with this school.

As of the 1st January 2008, GEMI will be brought together with the laboratory of Parasitology and Mycology from the teaching hospital and faculty of medicine at the University of Montpellier I (UMR 5093 CNRS). They are :-

• a national reference center for Leishmania (since 1998)
• biological resource center for emerging diseases (since 2002)
• collaborating center for the World Health Organisation (WHO) for Leishmania (since 2004)

The group is a member of IFR 119 Biodiversité continentale méditerranéenne et tropicale from the Ministry of Research and led by Nicole Pasteur, University of Montpellier II.

 

Collaborations with other research units in the IRD

• UR008 Pathogénie des trypanosomatidae (Ali Ouaissi)
• UR016 Caractérisation et contrôle des populations de vecteurs (Didier Fontenille)
• UR077 Paludologie afro-tropicale (Jean François Trape)
• UMR145 VIH et Maladies Associées (Eric Delaporte)
• UMR177 Interactions Hôtes-Vecteurs-Parasites dans les Trypanosomoses (Gérard Cuny)
• UR178 Conditions et territoires d'émergence des maladies (Jean Paul Gonzalez)
• US009 Suivi démographique, épidémiologique et environnemental (Pascal Arduin)
• US140 Expertises et SPAtialisation des Connaissances en Environnement (Frédéric Huynh)