This mapping is the result of a study carried out by the Mérieux Foundation between May 2022 and January 2023 involving the 21 laboratory units in the GABRIEL network, spread across 16 countries. The survey, consisting of 90 questions, investigated the main activities, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches, research themes, collaborations, and positioning and roles at national and international level of each organization surveyed.
A “clustering” method was applied to the data collected to establish groupings of expertise and activities shared by several laboratories. All these results were summarized in the form of a clear visual map, for easy reading and analysis. Five groups or “clusters” were thus identified on the basis of the network’s main activities, and four more based on the infectious diseases studied.
This work highlights new synergies that could be established between network members. It paves the way for new collaborative research projects in the service of global health, transcending geographical boundaries.
This methodology could be applied to other expert networks, or to the interface between multiple networks, to develop more integrated and effective global research or monitoring programs.
About the GABRIEL network
The GABRIEL network (Global Approach to Biology Research, Infectious diseases, and Epidemics in Low-income countries) is an international scientific network working to develop the research capacities of its member laboratories and improve the surveillance of infectious diseases that have a major impact on public health.
The GABRIEL network also promotes partnerships between low- and middle-income countries to support local responses to infectious diseases and meet public health challenges through collaborative research, technology transfer, and capacity building.
While the implementation of large-scale epidemiological studies on infectious diseases requires close collaboration between the players involved, they often have different areas of expertise, skills, and knowledge. This diversity is also reflected in the GABRIEL network, which has 21 members in 16 countries on four continents. In this context, this study, which aims to optimize scientific collaboration within the network, will help define an effective research strategy around the network’s four priority themes: acute respiratory infections, tuberculosis, antimicrobial resistance, and emerging pathogens.