On September 27, Mr. Hughes de Chavagnac, Consul General of France in St. Petersburg, made an official visit to St. Petersburg Pasteur Institute. Meeting of the Consul with the administration of the Institute headed by the Director Areg Totolian, the Scientific Secretary Galina Trifonova, and the heads of the laboratories were held in the conference room of the Institute.
Areg Totolian introduced the colleagues and briefly told the guest about the Institute's history, and mentioned that from the very beginning of the Institute the close ties with France and its scientists were established. In 1923 (when festive events were held all around the world dedicated to the 100th anniversary of Louis Pasteur’s birth), our Institute was named after an outstanding French microbiologist. Since 1993, the Institute has been a member of the Institut Pasteur International Network, and collaborated with Institut Pasteur (Paris) and other institutes of the IPIN on different topics: microbiology, epidemiology, virology and immunology (also in the framework of elimination and eradication of infectious diseases programmes). This year the International Conference “Molecular Bases of Epidemiology, Diagnostics, Prevention and Treatment of Infectious Diseases” dedicated to the 110th anniversary of St. Petersburg Pasteur Institute and 95th anniversary of naming it after Pasteur will be held in St. Petersburg on 4-6 December. Areg Totolian invited the consul general to attend this event.
Head of the Laboratory of Zoonoses Nikolai Tokarevich, Head of the Laboratory of Medical Bacteriology Liudmila Kraeva, Head of Laboratory of Enteric Infections Lidia Kaftyreva, Head of the Laboratory of Etiology and Control of Viral Infections Maina Bichurina, Deputy Director for Innovation Alexander Semenov and Deputy Director for Research Vladimir Dedkov informed the Consul about the main areas of their work and forms of international cooperation.
Mr. Hughes de Chavagnac then visited the Center for Common Use, the Medical Center of the Institute, as well as the Laboratory of Immunology and Virology of HIV infection and the Laboratory of Enteric Infections.
The Consul General thanked the host party for the warm welcome, the informative conversation and the invitation to the Conference. He spoke in favor of the Counselor’s for Science, Technology of the French Embassy participation in the work of the Conference. At the end of the meeting, the Consul General left a note in the Book of Honorary Guests of the Institute.
