From April 22 to May 3, 2024, Dr. Igor Mokrousov, Head of Laboratory of Molecular Epidemiology and Evolutionary Genetics, and Dr. Daria Neronskaya, Senior researcher at Laboratory for Identification of Pathogens, visited China within bilateral scientific collaboration on important bacterial pathogens.
During a visit to the Henan/Zhengzhou Children's Hospital, a current project on tuberculosis supported by the Russian Science Foundation (grant 24-44-00004, Russian PI – Dr Mokrousov) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) was discussed. Russian scientists met the President of the Zhengzhou Children's Hospital, visited departments and scientific laboratories. The RSF- NSFC project, implemented in 2024-2026, is focused on the study of Mycobacterium tuberculosis adaptation to new generation antibiotics at the population and individual levels and the impact on the transmission of strains.
When visiting the Baoding Children's Hospital, Igor Mokrousov and Daria Neronskaya held meetings with the hospital leaders, heads of laboratories, and got acquainted with the technical platforms used for molecular diagnostics and epidemiology of current pathogens. The Agreement on Scientific Cooperation between St. Petersburg Pasteur Institute and Baoding Children's Hospital was signed in 2023.
In both hospitals, Dr Mokrousov delivered lectures on the molecular epidemiology of tuberculosis, writing scientific articles and scientometrics, and the preparation and implementation of scientific projects, including the possibility of using artificial intelligence. Dr Neronskaya delivered lectures on the molecular epidemiology, diagnosis, genomics and virulence factors of Helicobacter pylori.
Chinese colleagues in both hospitals expressed their significant interest in and underlined the significance of the fundamental and applied research on Helicobacter pylori and the importance of preparation of a joint multicenter Russian-Chinese project on this pathogen.
At the same time, a collaboration on tuberculosis between St. Petersburg Pasteur Institute (Laboratory of Igor Mokrousov) and Chinese partners started 20 years ago remains a priority.
