Institut Pasteur De Tunis

Institut Pasteur De Tunis (IPT), an international non-profit organization based in Tunis, Tunisia, specializes in infectious disease research and epidemiological surveillance with a particular focus on emerging infectious disease threats in North Africa and the Mediterranean region. Since registering with the federal government in 2007, IPT has established itself as a critical research and surveillance partner to the U.S. military and public health agencies, providing specialized expertise in microbiology, vector-borne disease monitoring, and infectious disease research that supports broader U.S. public health and national security objectives.

IPT has received four prime federal contract awards, all from the U.S. Department of the Navy's Bureau of Medicine and Surgery (BUMED), totaling approximately $486,450 in contract value. These purchase orders, awarded between September 2022 and September 2025, have focused on surveillance and monitoring services critical to military health operations. Specifically, IPT has provided mosquito surveillance services in Tunisia, including detection of arboviruses and monitoring of insecticide resistance, laboratory surveillance services for infectious diseases, and surveillance of arboviruses causing acute febrile illness. The most recent contract, awarded on September 24, 2025, for $90,000, supports the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Division's Global Emerging Infections Surveillance (GEIS) program through November 2028, while a $149,700 contract for mosquito surveillance services extends through February 2029. Multiple contracts have been awarded on a sole-source basis under FAR 6.302-1, with the government determining that IPT possessed unique technical capabilities and local presence necessary to deliver these specialized services. No small business set-asides were utilized for any of these contract awards, reflecting IPT's classification as an international non-profit organization.

IPT has received two prime federal grant awards totaling significant research and surveillance support. The first is a Project Grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) awarded on May 1, 2023, and extending through April 30, 2028, for research on the cellular and molecular architecture of granulomas in human tuberculous lymphadenitis, a significant health burden in Tunisia affecting approximately 2,000 individuals annually. This grant supports collaborative research with UCLA scientists led by Dr. Benabdessalem at IPT, utilizing advanced molecular techniques including single-cell RNA sequencing to identify disease biomarkers and understand antimicrobial immune responses. The second prime grant is a Cooperative Agreement from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), specifically the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, awarded on September 30, 2021, and running through September 29, 2026, to strengthen Tunisia's surveillance system for influenza and non-influenza respiratory pathogens through building institutional capacities, improving diagnostic capabilities, and establishing real-time data sharing with international partners. Additionally, IPT has served as a sub-awardee on multiple federal grants from UCLA dating back to August 2022, under which Dr. Benabdessalem and IPT colleagues coordinate the collection of tuberculosis clinical specimens, perform immunohistology analyses, conduct T-cell response evaluations, and contribute to advanced molecular analysis supporting the tuberculosis granuloma research initiative.