The Montevideo Pasteur Institute: an exemplary model of French overseas

Initially created by Lotus Pasteur, the network of Pasteur Institutes now includes 30 centers on the five continents. Created in December 2006, the Montevideo Pasteur Institute is the most recent. It was jointly inaugurated by the Uruguayan President Dr Tabare Vazquez and the French Minister of Cooperation M(ine) Brigitte Girardin. The Institute was the fruit of an agreement between the French and Uruguayan presidents, whereby Uruguayan financial debt to France was converted into funding for the Institute. The aim of the Montevideo Pasteur Institute is to become a center of excellence in biomedicine, through: the installation of cutting-edge core facilities in genomics, proteomics, cellular biology, bioinformatics and transgenesis; the creation of 5-year research positions open to outstanding young scientists aiming to return to first world countries?; and the creation of biotech start-ups specializing in the development of recombinant drugs and diagnostic reagents based on new molecular techniques.