The opening ceremony for Center for Influenza Research and Early-warning Chinese Academy of Sciences (CASCIRE) was held in Beijing on December 23rd 2014 at the Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IMCAS). Due to the ever present threat of an influenza pandemic or epidemic, the CAS Center of Influenza Research and Early-warning (CASCIRE) was established to support the influenza research in China. The overall goal of the CASCIRE center is to provide the information and public health tools needed to control the impact of epidemic influenza and the threat of pandemic influenza.

Professor George Fu Gao, the director of CAS Key Laboratory of Pathogenic Microbiology and Immunology, initiated the foundation of the CASCIRE, and was selected as the director. The members of this center are consisted of investigators from nine academic institutes, including Beijing Institutes of Life Science Chinese Academy of Sciences (BIOLSCAS), IMCAS, Institute of Biophysics Chinese Academy of Sciences (IBCAS), Wuhan Institute of Virology Chinese Academy of Sciences (WIVCAS), Institut Pasteur of Shanghai Chinese Academy of Sciences (IPSCAS), Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica Chinese Academy of Sciences (SIMMCAS), Institute of Zoology Chinese Academy of Sciences (IOZCAS), Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology Chinese Academy of Sciences (TIBCAS), National Institute for Viral Disease Control and Prevention Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (IVDC, China CDC). The CASCIRE is administrated by the Bureau of Frontier Sciences and Education Chinese Academy of Sciences.

CAS has had a good platform of supporting research activities to provide more effective approaches to controlling influenza virus infections. These activities include studies on basic biology of influenza viruses including interspecies transmission and replication, pathogenesis, immunology and epidemiology to develop new and improved diagnostics, antiviral drugs, and vaccines. The need for early-warning was highlighted in the 2009 H1N1 pandemic and 2013 H7N9 epidemic. In the future, virus surveillance in aquatic birds and in live bird markets in China will be established along with activities designed to identify influenza viruses with pandemic potential.

George Fu Gao said, “The CASCIRE will be developed to a leading organization in the areas of basic research and disease control and prevention for influenza viruses. With efforts of CASCIRE, the knowledge and infrastructure required for influenza pandemic preparedness will be built to support the flu control in China.”

Prof. Ruiming Xu, the Director-General of Bureau of Frontier Sciences and Education Chinese Academy of Sciences, Prof. Yuelong Shu, the Deputy Director-General of IVDC, Prof. Shuangjiang Liu, the Director-General of IMCAS, Prof. Xinwen Chen, the Director-General of WIVCAS, and other representatives jointed the ceremony and inaugurated the center.