on June 19, 2006
The IRB was decked out with flowers and white linen for the arrival of Princess Chulabhorn of Thailand on the 2nd of June. The official visit was organized with the help of the Thai Royal Embassy in Bern. The purpose of the visit was to establish scientific and cultural links between the IRB and the Chulabhorn Research Institute in Bankok, an institute headed by the Princess Chulabhorn who is a well respected research scientist.
Princess Chulabhorn of Thailand
An introduction was made in which our President, Dr. Giorgio Noseda, welcomed the more than 20 members of the royal and embassy staff in perfect Thai and then handed the proceedings over to Director Dr. Antonio Lanzavecchia for a scientific presentation of the IRB. Dr. Jeremy Luban, the most recent Group Leader to join the Institute, presented his work on HIV.
After a quick tour around the facilities a small reception was held in the lobby, where the Princess exchanged gifts with the IRB and the Mayor of Bellinzona, while Carlo Uboldi played the piano. As fast as they arrived they were gone. Hopefully the relationship between our institutes will foster a lively exchange, not just of scientists and students, samples and reagents, but maybe even administrative staff such as your editor! In fact I hear they have a swimming pool at their institute.
For more info: http://www.cri.or.th/cri/
