[The laboratory of pediatrics]

A medical department in a university hospital has 3 duties: care, teaching, and research. Partnership between the department of pediatrics and a laboratory of pediatrics is therefore essential; they are complementary. The development of the laboratory requires constructive collaboration with the medical department, clinicians addressing questions to the laboratory, and the laboratory developing tools in order to provide answers. This clearly supposes that the necessary human and material resources are made available to the laboratory. The Laboratory of Pediatrics of the ULB, through its basic activity, exists and functions, but possibilities and ambitions are broader. With the aid of the department of pediatrics and of the university, the Laboratory should be able to consolidate the diversification of its activities and financial resources, and to extent the panel of services offered.