Rodolphe Mérieux Laboratory of Antananarivo

The Charles Mérieux Center for Infectious Disease (CICM) was created in 2010 to carry out training and research on infectious diseases in Madagascar. One of its primary aims is to improve patients' health by improving diagnostic tools.

Background

At the initiative of Dr. Christophe Mérieux, the Mérieux Foundation began a technical assistance project in Madagascar in late 2006. Two years later, the decision was made to build the CICM at the University of Antananarivo. The Center began offering health services in April 2010 and was inaugurated on April 14, 2011, during a ceremony attended by Alain and Chantal Mérieux.

Governance

The CICM was created following a decree by the President of the University of Antananarivo in accordance with the Ministry of Health. The Center is owned by the University, which appoints the CICM director conjointly with the Mérieux Foundation. Governance is entrusted to the Strategic Orientation Council made up of three colleges, each composed of three members representing:

• The Ministry of Health
• The University of Antananarivo
• The Mérieux Foundation

For operations and management, the CICM enjoys full autonomy with respect to its supervisory authorities.

Facilities

The Center's facilities cover a total surface of 540 m² with one area for training and one for research on infectious diseases. Students at the University of Antananarivo who have acquired the necessary skills can take advantage of the specially designed state-of-the-art facilities to pursue their studies and conduct scientific research on infectious diseases.

Three rooms are devoted to training: a conference room, a practice room and a documentation room.

The laboratory area, with a surface area of 242 m², includes three BSL2+ containment rooms, a clean room for the preparation of molecular biology reagents, an amplification room and a room for electrophoresis.

The Center is equipped with:

• A molecular biology workstation with two thermal cyclers, one for conventional PCR (MJ Research PTC-200) and one for real-time PCR (Biorad CFX-96) and two FilmArray® System instruments (BioFire Diagnostics, LLC, Utah, US)
• An ELISA workstation
• A microscope workstation for several microscopes, including one with a built-in camera

The Center has two -80° C freezers for storing samples and an autoclave for the decontamination of waste.

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