NEHCRI (the NITD – Eijkman Institute – Hasanuddin University Clinical Research Initiative) is a joint research initiative that will further expand the capabilities of NITD to conduct research for tuberculosis, dengue fever and malaria – three of the world’s most neglected diseases.
 

NEHCRI is located at the Eijkman Institute in Jakarta and at the Dr. Wahidin Sudirohusodo Hospital in Makassar.

Makassar is a major city in the eastern part of Indonesia and although dengue is quite widespread in this region there is very little epidemiological information or data on dengue prevalence. Part of the problem is the lack of a good diagnostic laboratory with capability to conduct research on virus isolates from patients. The dengue virology laboratory at NEHCRI in Makassar has been established to fill this gap, and has teamed up with the Faculty of Medicine of the Hasanuddin University and Dr Wahidin Sudirohusodo Hospital (a 1000-bed teaching hospital of Hasanuddin University) to conduct a 12-month fever survey of consenting febrile patients. This study will be expanded later into a larger Early Dengue Infection and Outcome (EDEN) study as conducted in Singapore previously (Low et al., Annals of the Academy of Medicine Singapore 2006; 35:783-90).
 

Within the more established research setting at The Eijkman Institute of Molecular Biology in Jakarta, the NEHCRI research laboratory will conduct genomic analysis of virus isolates from the clinical laboratory in Makassar. It is also projected to acquire the capability to do more sophisticated studies on changes in gene expression pattern in infected patients. Utilising the existing facilities and expertise within The Eijkman Institute in developing cheap and robust diagnostic kits for Indonesia, the NEHCRI laboratory has initiated a project to develop dengue diagnostic tests that can be used in our research facility in the first instance, following extensive testing for sensitivity and reliability against a standard serum bank.
 

The scope of dengue research activities at NEHCRI thus spans the areas of epidemiology, virology, diagnostics and host response. The NEHCRI laboratories in Makassar and Jakarta are staffed by Indonesian scientists, hence the experience acquired by these scientists can be applied to establish more collaborations with other dengue research groups in Indonesia, which eventually would lead to better surveillance and contribute towards efforts to control the disease in Indonesia.

A NEHCRI TB diagnostic laboratory has been set up in collaboration with the Dr.Wahidin hospital, Hasanuddin University, Makassar. TB diagnostic tools are made available free of charge to patients attending the hospital and the nearby lung clinic. The lab is part of the “Quality Assurance Laboratory Network” supervised by the National TB Programme (NTP), Indonesia and its supranational laboratory (Institute of Medical and Veterinary Science, Adelaide). The availability of TB culture and drug susceptibility testing will help to improve TB case detection and case management in Makassar.
 

The availability of good diagnostic tools provides the basis for an epidemiology study which will determine the TB situation (MDR, XDR) and risk factors of drug resistance (demographics, diabetes, HIV-TB co-infection). The epidemiology study will be complemented by molecular strain typing carried out at the NEHCRI TB laboratory at the Eijkman Institute, Jakarta.
 

Thus, NITD's collaboration with Hasanuddin University and the Eijkman Institute will benefit not only individual TB patient and their doctors but also provide basic epidemiological data on TB in the region.
 

In addition to the diagnostic and epidemiological activities, new rapid TB diagnostic tools will be evaluated for their usefulness in resource-limited settings. TB related research activities in the NEHCRI TB laboratories are carried out in close collaboration with NTP and WHO Indonesia.

Professor Sangkot Marzuki, Director of Eijkman Institute of Molecular Biology, at the inauguration ceremony of NEHCRI.
 

Professor Alex Matter, Director of Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases, at the inauguration ceremony of NEHCRI.
 

Staff of NEHCRI (both Makassar and Jakarta) after the opening ceremony of the institute in January 2007, together with NITD researchers Joel Leong, Liu Wei and Sabai Phyu.
 

The BSL-2 facility at NEHCRI.