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EURAXESS
NEWS1 May 2013Meet the researchers

Combating Chikungunya: Interview with members of the FP7-funded ICRES research project

fazakerley-sam

Chikungunya fever is a viral illness that is transmitted to humans by the bites of Aedes mosquitoes causing severe and often incapacitating joint pain in infected patients. With large-scale outbreaks of Chikungunya fever regularly occurring in many parts of the world, the vulnerability of the world‘s population to emerging infectious diseases spread by insects is apparent. A team of researchers from leading institutions across the EU and their global partners are now searching for a long-term solution in the combat of this viral illness. ICRES — short for Integrated Chikungunya Research — aims to develop a vaccine ready to enter clinical trials. The project is funded under the EU‘s 7th Framework Programme.

EURAXESS Links ASEAN has interviewed two of the project partners of this multinational research consortium. Prof John Fazerkely is Director of The Pirbright Institute in the UK and coordinator of ICRES. His colleague Dr Jamal I-Ching Sam is a researcher at the Department of Medical Microbiology in the Faculty of Medicine in University of Malaya in Malaysia.

About John Fazakerley

Professor John Fazakerley (BSc, MBA, PhD, FSB, FRCPath) is Director of The Pirbright Institute, UK, and an international expert on virus pathogenesis, in particular arboviruses and viral encephalitis. The institute is a world-leading laboratory focussing on research and surveillance to prevent virus diseases of animals and spread of viruses from animals to humans. The institute has major research programmes in virus diseases of livestock, vector-borne virus diseases and avian virus diseases; it has extensive high containment laboratories and animal facilities and hosts the world reference laboratories for rinderpest, foot-and-mouth disease and peste-des-petits ruminants (www.pirbright.ac.uk).

About Jamal I-Ching Sam

Dr Jamal I-Ching Sam obtained his medical degree from Nottingham University, UK, and completed specialist training in medical microbiology in London in 2004. He returned home to Malaysia, and took an academic position in the Department of Medical Microbiology in the Faculty of Medicine in University Malaya in 2005. His main duties are diagnostic services for the university‘s teaching hospital, research and teaching. His research interests are Chikungunya virus, enterovirus 71, and respiratory viruses.

Interview

Prof Fazakerley, your institution is the coordinating body for the ICRES project supported by the European Union under the Health Cooperation Work Programme of the 7th Framework programme. Can you tell us a bit about the research that is being conducted in this project?

The current chikungunya epidemic rose to prominence in 2005/6 following infection of >250,000 people on La Réunion. The virus rapidly spread to other islands in the Indian Ocean, India and SE Asia. Chikungunya cases in returning travellers have been reported in other parts of the world including Europe. In summer 2007 a traveller from India to Italy initiated a locally transmitted outbreak which included one death from encephalitis. The mosquitoes transmitting this infection are spreading and increasing in Europe and could spread as far north as the British Isles. There are diagnostics tests, these require standardisation; the pathogenic mechanisms leading to myalgia, arthralgia, rare encephalitis and chronic arthritis are unknown precluding rational therapeutic intervention; there are no antivirals and there is nolicensed vaccine. Our principle research objectives are:

  1. Generate new molecular and cellular tools for research and applied studies including high-throughput screening and vaccines
  2. Standardise, quality assure and distribute key diagnostic tests and develop new ones
  3. Determine key virus genetic changes across time, geographical regions and species
  4. Discover interactions between virus and human cells to inform the rational design of therapeutics
  5. Determine pathogenesis of the acute and chronic disease in humans, including whether virus persists in joints, the cell types involved and the relationship to immune responses
  6. Characterise rodent and non-human primate models of acute and chronic infection to further study the pathogenesis and to provide models for antiviral and vaccine screens
  7. Screen libraries of small molecular weight compounds for antiviral activity
  8. Develop a vaccine which at the end of this project is ready to enter clinical trial

Prof Fakerzeley, the project unites partners from several countries. Can you introduce the consortium members to us and tell us how the cooperation came about?

The project is a collaboration of The Pirbright Institute, UK; Steinbeis Innovation, Germany; University of Malaya, Malaysia; Université de la Réunion, France; SIgN, A*STAR, Singapore; University of Helsinki, Finland; Commissariat à L'Energie Atomique et aux énergies Alternatives, France; University of Tartu, Estonia; L'Institut Pasteur, France; Karolinska Institutet, Sweden; University of Bonn, Germany; Centro Nacional de Biotecnologia, Spain; University of Glasgow, UK and Griffiths University, Australia.

The collaboration came about as a result of the interaction of three networks. Firstly, a group of European research scientists who had been working together for many years, in part funded by other European Union funding on the biology of alphaviruses, a group of viruses which includes CHIKV; secondly, those European research laboratories, predominantly in France, who had been working on other viruses but had diverted their research to CHIKV following the outbreak of chikungunya on La Réunion in 2006; and thirdly, SE Asian laboratories working on CHIKV as a result of the arrival of chikungunya fever in SE Asia. An application to the EU 7th Framework programme was developed at a meeting of European and SE Asian researchers sponsored by the British High Commission in Singapore in 2009.

Dr Sam, your laboratory at the University Malaya is participating in the ICRES project. Can you tell us a bit about your team and your role as part of the ICRES project?

Our team comprises Professor Sazaly Abu Bakar, Yoke-Fun Chan and I. We are based at the Tropical Infectious Diseases Research and Education Centre (TIDREC, website: http://tidrec.um.edu.my), in University Malaya, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. For ICRES, we are working on virus evolution and epidemiology. This includes studying the genetic changes in the virus over time, and how different virus strains may adapt differently to the mosquito vector. We are also looking at the clinical epidemiology of the disease in Malaysia; for example, description of outbreaks and clinical manifestations. We are also the co-organisers along with ICRES of Chikungunya 2013, an international conference taking place in Langkawi Island, Malaysia on October 28-30, 2013 (website).

We have invited many well-known figures in Chikungunya and alphavirus research, and are looking forward to an exciting and stimulating conference.

Prof Fazakerley, which roles do the other partners play?

Research in the consortium covers a spectrum of topics including molecular virology, antivirals, diagnostics, pathogenesis, immune responses, vaccines, epidemiology and work on animal model systems to study in vivo pathogenesis and test antiviral and vaccine efficacies. Each partner takes a lead role in a particular area of research. Molecular work is led by the University of Tartu in Estonia, antivirals by the University of Helsinki in Finland, diagnostics by the University of Bonn in Germany, epidemiology by the University of Malaya, pathogenesis by the Pasteur Institute in France, Steinbeis Innovation in Germany and The Pirbright Institute in the UK, immune responses by the University of la Réunion and A*STAR in Singapore, animal model systems by the CEA in France, the Karolinska in Sweden and Griffiths University in Australia and vaccines by the CEA and Karolinska.

Prof Fazakerley, how important is this international cooperation to the success of the project?

Given the breadth of this project, it is probably beyond the capability and certainly beyond the expertise of any one research centre. We have epidemiological data and clinical samples from the areas affected by chikungunya, including LaRéunionand SE Asia, and we have expertise in the molecular virology of alphaviruses, virus pathogenesis and vaccinology from world leading research groups. The consortium meets every six months to discuss progress, share results and work out problems.

Dr Sam, how does the work conducted by the ICRES project team benefit the population here in Southeast Asia? Which applications are planned?

Chikungunya virus is endemic in Southeast Asia, as the Aedes mosquito vectors are widespread. Chikungunya has been causing outbreaks since the 1960s, and causes considerable morbidity. The work of the ICRES team is invaluable in increasing knowledge of this disease, which has been relatively neglected prior to the recent global outbreaks starting in 2004. ICRES work in the areas of diagnostics, antivirals and vaccines would be of particular practical value in this region.

Prof Fazakerley, the project is supported under the Health Cooperation Work Programme of the 7th EU Framework programme. Was it difficult to apply for this grant?

As with all EU grants, the task of understanding what is required for the grant application at first looks formidable. However, once this was distilled from all the information available, the actual application process was relatively straightforward. The difficulty really was integrating the information and research plans from the different groups from around the world. For this, as coordinator, I used established networks of colleagues with whom I have worked previously but I also travelled to some of the laboratories now part of the consortium to discuss their involvement. There was a lot of writing and many tables to produce. It helps a lot if the organisation has experience of writing and managing EU grants and examples of successful grants are available for guidance.

Dr Sam, how do you experience the collaboration with European partners?

Our overall experience of this collaboration has been very positive. We have found our European partners to be welcoming, and generous with their time and expertise, in terms of sharing knowledge and technology. It has also been fascinating to be involved in scientific discussions between experts in different fields.

Prof Fazakerley, what advice would you give to European researchers planning to apply for EU research funding?

Carefully consider the purpose of the consortium, what expertise you want or need and what you don‘t want or need and then who you want and don‘t want. It needs to be a carefully considered decision. Each partner needs to bring something different and together the work needs to address the call. Make sure you read the documentation on the application process and pick out the key bits. Pay attention to all aspects of the application, since the application is scored not only on the science but also on social and economic impact and issues such as gender equality. Look at other successful applications and if possible work with someone who has experience of EU grants. Many larger organisations have an EU office. There are also organisations out there that will help write the grants. I haven‘t used one but I know people who have.

Dr Sam, what advice would you give to Southeast Asian researchers seeking closer collaboration with Europe?

Southeast Asian researchers should first make themselves visible in their field by publishing in good journals and networking. I think it is important to be clear what you can offer and what you can expect from a potential collaboration. All collaborations work best when mutually beneficial, and when based on openness and mutual respect.

As scientists which goals are you both still hoping to achieve?

Prof Fazakerley: The ICRES consortium has made great progress both in the science that we planned and in positioning us as a group or as subgroups to undertake further research on chikungunya and other viruses in the future. Much of what we set out to achieve has been achieved but we are still working on the latter stages of our objectives, the most prominent of which is to develop a pre-clinically validated vaccine for chikungunya so that next time this virus strikes around the world, instead of having millions of clinical cases we will be able to protect the world population. With this in mind, and to discuss the progress that has been made in chikungunya research, we are organising an international meeting on chikungunya on Langkawi Island in Malaysia, from 28 to 30 October 2013. Please see the conference websitehttp://umconference.um.edu.my/CHIKV2013.

Dr Sam: I will continue trying to carry out research which challenges me and has meaningful impact on patients and public health. I would like to have a body of work and research students that I can be proud of.

Thank you very much Prof Fazakerley and Dr Sam!