The International Vaccine Institute (IVI) and the Translational Health Science and Technology Institute (THSTI) of India held a joint symposium at IVI headquarters in Seoul, Korea recently. More than ten speakers, including four from THSTI and other participants from the Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI) and India’s Department of Biotechnology (DBT), took part in the one-day symposium to share an overview of current research and development projects at THSTI and IVI, as well as to discuss common interests while exploring collaboration opportunities.

Participants included Prof. Gagandeep Kang, Executive Director of THSTI and senior scientists Dr. Guruprasad Medigeshi, Dr. Susmita Chaudhuri and Dr. Arup Banerjee from THSTI; and Dr. Jerome Kim, Director General, Dr. Manki Song, Head of Clinical Research Laboratory, Dr. Anh Wartel, Head of Clinical Development and Regulatory, Dr. Viliam Pavliak, Head of Vaccine Process Development Unit and other IVI scientists.

They addressed laboratory research at IVI and THSTI, as well as translational and epidemiology research at IVI. The symposium was hosted jointly by IVI and THSTI, and supported by SK Bioscience, a leading vaccine manufacturer in Korea.

The symposium comes after the government of India became a state funder of IVI following last year’s exchange of a trilateral memorandum of understanding between IVI and the Indian Council of Medical Research, and the Department of Health and Family Welfare of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

The India-IVI partnership is building upon a long-standing and expanding collaboration including the development of the world’s first oral cholera vaccine ‘Shanchol’, based on IVI’s technology transfer to Shantha Biotechnics; as well as the establishment of an immuno-monitoring laboratory in India’s National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases (NICED). The joint symposium, which is the first cooperative program between THSTI and IVI, is expected to help accelerate research cooperation and broaden partnership between IVI and India, one of the world’s biggest producers and exporters of vaccines.