Other Names: IPK; Pedro Kouri Institute
Address: P.O. Box 601, Marianao 13,
Ciudad de La Habana, Cuba
Website: http://www.infomed.sld.cu/instituciones/ipk/indice1.htm (English version)
Phone Number: 53 (7) 202-0430 to 44
Subordinate to: n/a
Director: Gustavo Kourí
Size: Currently, IPK reports a staff of over 650 employees (a 2002 report from the Center for Defense Information reports only 520), 387 of whom are "qualified specialists and technologists." The institute is large, with 20 buildings, covering 30,000 square meters.
Primary Function: As the name implies, IPK devotes much of its efforts to investigating problems of tropical medicine, including parasitology. However, following its restructuring in 1993, the institute has become more involved in medical microbiology, infectious diseases, epidemiology of communicable diseases, and social research. The institute is a biotechnological and epidemiological national center, according to Manuel Limonta, former director of the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (CIGB), and in addition to its research function, the center provides clinical services and educational programs. These educational programs have included 25,000 students in the history of the institute, with 47 from the United States in the past five years.
History: IPK was established by scientist Pedro Kouri in 1937 as a part of the University of Havana Medical School, with an exclusive focus on tropical medicine. However, since 1979, IPK has ventured into other areas of medical research. In 1981, as Cuba was experiencing its worst outbreak of dengue fever, IPK became instrumental in identifying risk factors for the disease as well as researching reasons why some patients develop the hemorrhagic form of dengue fever. In 1993, the institute moved into a new, modern facility with the latest equipment for biotechnology research.

Description:
Research and teaching are the two main goals of IPK. Its researchers attempt to collaborate both with Cuban institutions and epidemiology centers worldwide. Both undergraduate and graduate students are able to participate in courses at the institute, with students coming from throughout Latin America. Scientists at the institute report that students from 72 countries have participated in IPK courses. IPK also has a BL-3 containment laboratory.

Currently, IPK is involved in many different types of research including:

• Clinical, epidemiological, and laboratory studies of diseases exotic to Cuba
• Zoonosis
• Intestinal parasitic diseases
• Infections of the central nervous system
• Infection in immunodepressed patients
• Research on acute respiratory infections

The institute houses a World Health Organization (WHO) and Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) collaborative center, the WHO/PAHO Collaborating Center for the Study of Viral Diseases, which focuses on viral diseases affecting humans, particularly dengue fever and measles. Using recombinant techniques, IPK currently is researching a vaccine against dengue fever, which has been a priority project for the institute since the 1980s. The National System for Epidemiological Surveillance, also developed by the IPK, has been utilized by epidemiologists from different countries, and the technology has been purchased by the Columbian Ministry of Health.

Additional Information: According to a publication of The Endowment for Cuban American Studies, Luis Roberto Hernandez, a former Cuban entomologist, claimed that scientists working in biotechnology were under extremely tight security, and those at IPK were unable to walk through different areas of the building. Also, IPK participates in few collaborative projects with Russia, unlike some of the other institutes within Cuba.

Key Sources: Pedro Kouri Institute Website, <http://www.infomed.sld.cu/instituciones/ipk/indice1.htm>; Manuel Limonta, "Biotechnology and the Third World: Development Strategies in Cuba," Biomedical Science and the Third World, ed., Barry Bloom and Anthony Cerami, (New York: New York Academy of Sciences, 1989), pp. 325-333; Maria C. Werlau, "Does Cuba have biochemical weapons?" Cuba: Assessing the Threat to US Security, ed., Adolfo Leyva, (Miami: The Endowment for Cuban American Studies, 2001), pp. 99-128; Glenn Baker (ed.), Cuban biotechnology: A first-hand report, Washington, DC: Center for Defense Information, 20 May 2003; Permanent Mission of the Republic of Cuba to the United Nations, Republic of Cuba Submitted Persuant to Paragraph 6 of Security Council Resolution 1373 (2001).

	Updated February 2004