The Pasteur Institute is pleased to welcome a delegation from the Hong Kong Center for Immunology and Infection (C2i) from September 14 to 17.

As part of the long-standing partnership between Institut Pasteur and the University of Hong Kong (HKU), the Center for Immunology & Infection (C2i) will be represented at Institut Pasteur from 14 to 17 September by three of its leading investigators. 

The programme includes scientific seminars (all the information below) and targeted discussions with Pasteur research groups.    
 

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	Leo Poon Managing Directeur, C2i  Co-Directeur, HKU-Pasteur	Michael Chan Lead Scientist, C2i Professeur, HKU	Tommy Lam Lead Scientist, C2i Professeur, HKU-Pasteur

C2i: an applied research laboratory built on 25 years of Pasteur–HKU collaboration

Based at the Hong Kong Science Park, C2i is an applied research laboratory specializing in immunology and infectious diseases, born out of a long-standing partnership between the University of Hong Kong (HKU) and the Pasteur Institute. This collaboration, which spans more than 25 years, is exemplified in particular by the HKU-Pasteur Research Pole, a joint research center focused on emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases established in Hong Kong in 2000.

Launched in 2020 with support from the Hong Kong government, C2i brings together expertise in immunology and infection to drive innovative interventions against infectious diseases. Its work spans three key areas: characterising immune responses in Asian populations, developing new vaccine platforms and treatments for lethal respiratory viruses, and building new strategies to monitor mosquito-borne viruses. At the heart of C2i’s research is the Healthy Human Global Project - Hong Kong (HHGP-HK), co-led by James Di Santo and Darragh Duffy. Building on the Milieu Intérieur initiative, the project extends this framework to Hong Kong to map immune diversity in Asia and pave the way for precision medicine.

This visit therefore aims to strengthen ties between Institut Pasteur and the University of Hong Kong, showcase C2i spin-offs, and explore new opportunities for collaboration.

Three seminars on today’s major challenges in virology and translational medicine

Michael Chan: From Patient-Derived Samples to Predictive Evidence: Respiratory Organoid Models for Precision Medicine and Drug Development
15 September 2026, 12:00–13:00 - Lwoff Auditorium

Michael Chan is Professor in the Division of Public Health Laboratory Sciences at the HKU School of Public Health and Lead Scientist at the C2i. A specialist in virus–host interactions, he has pioneered patient-derived respiratory organoids and ex vivo models for influenza, coronavirus, and chronic respiratory disease research.

His seminar will present a patient-derived respiratory organoid platform developed for studying disease biology, therapeutic response, and translational drug development. The platform combines minimally invasive airway sampling, tumor-derived models, standardized culture workflows, quality control, traceability, and biobanking.

Two main application areas will be discussed:

• Lung cancer: tumor organoids can complement genomic profiling by providing functional evidence of drug sensitivity, helping to guide treatment choices between molecularly similar options.
   
• Chronic respiratory disease: these models are being developed to assess disease phenotypes, responder versus non-responder profiles, inflammatory and mucus-related readouts, and inhalation toxicity, with a focus on asthma, COPD, bronchiectasis, and cystic fibrosis.
   

The talk will also cover ongoing efforts to improve reproducibility and scalability through automation, data integration, and micro-physiological systems, with the long-term goal of establishing respiratory organoids as predictive tools for precision medicine and preclinical drug development.

Leo Poon: Pandemic Preparedness: Lessons Learned from SARS-CoV-2 and the Path Forward
16 September 2026, 12:00–13:00 -  Duclaux Auditorium

Chair Professor at the HKU School of Public Health, Leo Poon is Co-Director of the HKU-Pasteur Research Pole and Managing Director of the C2i. He played a major role in Hong Kong’s response to COVID-19 and was awarded the Louis Pasteur Bicentenary Prize in 2023 for his contributions to infectious disease research.

In this seminar, Professor Poon will draw on Hong Kong’s experience, a densely populated city often on the front line of emerging diseases, to discuss three key research areas with direct implications for future pandemic responses:

Rapid diagnostics: development of fast, accurate on-site tests to identify infected individuals quickly, enabling earlier isolation and more effective contact tracing in crowded urban settings.

• Molecular surveillance: genetic sequencing of virus samples to track SARS-CoV-2 evolution in real time and detect the arrival of new variants, providing local health officials with faster, evidence-based decision-making tools.
   
• Broad-spectrum vaccines: development of live-attenuated virus candidates designed to induce broadly protective immune responses, with the longer-term goal of creating a single vaccine effective against current and future related viruses.

Tommy Lam: Genomic discovery of tick-borne viruses
17 September 2026, 10:00–11:00 -  Room Jules Bordet

Tommy Lam is Professor at the University of Hong Kong, with a background in bioinformatics and molecular virology. His research focuses on the evolution, epidemiology, and ecology of emerging infectious diseases, using integrative genomic approaches to track pathogens at the human–animal interface.

His seminar will explore how genomic approaches are reshaping our understanding of tick-borne viruses (TBVs). He will present findings from large-scale meta-transcriptomic profiling of tick viromes across China, revealing extensive RNA virus diversity and deep evolutionary links to established arbovirus families.
The talk will also examine how ecological generalism, climate-driven host shifts, and molecular adaptation (including mutations such as SFTSV glycoprotein D170N) contribute to the emergence and spread of highly pathogenic TBVs. 
By integrating epidemiology, evolutionary analysis, and eco-climate modelling, these studies aim to inform surveillance strategies for tick-borne threats in a changing climate.

Join us to meet our colleagues from Hong Kong and discover the latest advances from the Pasteur–HKU–C2i partnership!