03. April 2007 Helmholtz Head Office
Opening of the Indo-German Science Centre for Infectious Diseases
Speech by Prof. Dr. Jürgen Mlynek, President of the Helmholtz Association, at the Opening of the Indo-German Science Centre for Infectious Diseases on April 3rd 2007.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
dear Professor Ganguly,
I am very happy to be here and to witness today the inauguration of the Indo-German Science Centre for Infectious Diseases. It is not a "material" Centre, built of stone, glass and steel, but a virtual one, built of the ideas of Indian and German scientists.
This virtual research centre will provide a real platform for close collaboration, common research projects and frequent exchange between the scientists.
It is an important project which will not only contribute towards our understanding of infectious diseases, but also will lead to the development of novel strategies for combating them. More than 120 years ago, Robert Koch, a German physician and biologist, discovered the anthrax bacillus, the tuberculosis bacillus and the vibrio cholerae. It was the start of a new era of hygiene, prevention, and health research, helping very much to increase the quality of our lives as well as our life expectancy.
In the last century, penicillin and other antibiotics and antiviral drugs as well have been developed as efficient weapons, but, looking at the current burden of infectious diseases, it is clear that we have yet to win the war against microbial organisms.
The strategies of pathogenic microbes to outwit their host are no less ingenious than those humans have developed to control infectious agents. We need ammunition for moving targets, and, to achieve this, we all have to work hand in hand.
Diseases like tuberculosis or hepatitis C still cause huge suffering especially amongst poor people.
But also in the hospitals of wealthy Germany, we have to fight against multiresistant strains of Staphylococcus aureus, a major cause of hospital-acquired infections. Infectious respiratory diseases are a cause for concern, too, because of the high mortality and morbidity of these diseases in our country. Obviously, there is plenty of work still to do.
Maybe this was one reason why we could deliver this baby - our Indo-German Science Centre, which we are inaugurating today - so promptly.
With "we" I refer to the proud parents, the Helmholtz Association of National Research Centres in Germany and the Indian Council of Medical Research.
It was only in April last year that we signed a first Memorandum of Understanding. I remember the occasion very well: it was in the presence of the honourable Indian Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, and our German Chancellor, Dr. Angela Merkel, who came together in Hannover to reaffirm that our countries should intensify economic, cultural and scientific exchange.
Prof Ganguly, as director of the Indian Council of Medical Research, and I, as president of the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres, signed a memorandum, which had been carefully prepared, and proposed, as a first step, to identify key joint and collaborative activities.
Only three months later, in July 2006, a meeting was held at the ICMR Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases in Calcutta. Prof. Ganguly and ten directors of ICMR Institutes met with Prof. Rudi Balling, who was representing the Helmholtz Association, to fill the Memorandum of Understanding with life.
He was joined by Prof. Reinhold E. Schmidt, an HIV expert from the Hannover Medical School. The scientists quickly agreed that infectious diseases would be the focus of the new, intensified collaboration.
Infectious diseases are a global problem; even today epidemic diseases can still not be contained for long. Their economic impact is enormous. And their distribution mirrors and reinforces economic inequality, because the poorest people are most affected. As Martin Luther King put it: " Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane."
We need research to develop diagnostics and therapies and to increase our basic understanding of infectious processes:
Why are some people so vulnerable to certain infections, while others can live quite free of symptoms for years?
This question, for example, could be studied in populations with different ethnicity in Germany or India.
Only a few months have passed since that meeting in July. In the meantime, Professor Balling, director of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, and Professor Chhatwal, who heads the Microbiology Division at that centre in Braunschweig, have been very active, as have their Indian counterparts, Prof. Ganguly and Dr. Mukesh Kumar, in discussing the organisational details of a virtual Indo-German Science Centre.
I would like especially to thank Singh Chhatwal, who switches with ease and elegance between the different cultures and has built a bridge for both German and Indian scientists to come together.
Without him and his frequent phone calls and his constructive and pleasant manner, we would not be here today. Also, I would like to thank Rudi Balling: Last November, only few months after these initial meetings, he presented us with a precise roadmap for close cooperation and constructed the Indo-German Science Centre for Infectious Diseases as a platform for exchange and common research questions.
Together, Rudi Balling and Singh Chhatwal managed to get all the partners into one boat and row them quickly to the safe shores of assured funding.
It was certainly a great help that Rudi Balling and his colleagues already had quite extensive contacts with India and had organised many conferences and projects in recent years.
Fortunately, the Helmholtz Association is much less bureaucratic than our large size would suggest. We may be big, but we are flexible and able to react fast. Using the Initiative and Networking Fund, we could decide immediately to provide 1.5 million euros for the next three years and contribute roughly two thirds of the German part, with the other third being shouldered by the HZI and the Hannover Medical School.
The ICMR was equally committed and flexible and immediately agreed to take over the Indian share of the total budget. I would like to thank Prof. Ganguly once again for his support and his exceptional cooperation that enables us to celebrate the inauguration of this Indo-German Science Centre today.
I personally very much appreciate your hospitality and kindness and would like to thank you for inviting all of us to this fantastic event here today.
Your goals are ambitious: in a total of five joint projects you will advance knowledge, gain a more thorough understanding of the infection processes in disease and bring results from bench to bedside.
Good luck and thank you for listening.
