Centre de Recherches Medicales de Lambaréné

Their core work

CERMEL is a medical research center based in Lambaréné, Gabon, specializing in clinical trials and vaccine research in tropical and infectious diseases. They are one of the few African institutions actively embedded in European research consortia, contributing real-world clinical data from sub-Saharan populations. Their work focuses on Ebola vaccine safety and immunogenicity studies, and more recently on SARS-CoV-2 pandemic preparedness — always with an emphasis on understanding immune responses in low-resource, fragile populations.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

CERMEL's H2020 journey began in 2015 with Ebola vaccine research — a direct response to the West African Ebola crisis — and deepened through 2023 with expanded systems vaccinology work including pediatric populations. By 2020, they pivoted to SARS-CoV-2 pandemic response, applying their infectious disease expertise to COVID-19 cohort studies with a focus on preparedness, federated data approaches, and socio-economic impacts on fragile populations.

CERMEL is evolving from a single-pathogen clinical trial site toward a broader infectious disease preparedness hub, increasingly contributing epidemiological and socio-economic data from African populations to European research networks.

How they like to work

CERMEL participates exclusively as a consortium partner, never as coordinator — consistent with their role as a specialized clinical site contributing field data and patient cohorts to larger European-led initiatives. With 47 unique partners across 17 countries from just 3 projects, they operate in large, multi-national consortia. This makes them an accessible and experienced partner for anyone building a consortium that needs a credible African clinical research site.

Despite only 3 projects, CERMEL has built an extensive network of 47 partners across 17 countries, reflecting their participation in large-scale international health consortia. Their geographic connections span Europe and Africa, making them a bridge between continents in infectious disease research.

What sets them apart

CERMEL is one of very few sub-Saharan African research centers with a sustained track record in H2020 health projects. Their location in Gabon gives consortia access to clinical trial infrastructure, patient populations, and epidemiological data that simply cannot be replicated by European institutions. For any project requiring real-world evidence from tropical or low-resource settings, CERMEL is a rare and proven partner.

Highlights from their portfolio

• VSV-EBOPLUS
  Largest project (EUR 752K) combining Ebola vaccine trials with advanced systems vaccinology — transcriptomics and immunogenicity profiling in both adults and children.
• ORCHESTRA
  Major EU-wide COVID-19 cohort study where CERMEL contributed the critical perspective of fragile populations in low-resource African settings.