NovoBiome and Inserm form new collaboration to simulate human intestinal physiology
Integration of Inserm’s leading technologies related to human stem cell-derived intestinal epithelial cells and enteric nervous system to NovoBiome’s organoid on a chip platform
Collaboration aims to complete NovoBiome’s disruptive NovoSift® ex-vivo research and discovery platform to analyze the symbiotic relationship between the microbiota and the human intestine
Paris, France – 22 February 2022: NovoBiome ("the Company"), a drug discovery company developing breakthrough Live Biotherapeutics Products (LBPs)1 targeting the microbiome-gut-liver axis, announces today that it has signed a new collaboration with the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm), a scientific and technological institute which operates under the joint authority of the French Ministries of Health and Research.
The collaboration will see the development of an innovative intestinal organoid on a chip technology that will complete the functionality of NovoBiome’s disruptive NovoSift® platform, an ex-vivo research and discovery platform to analyze the symbiotic relationship between the microbiota and the human intestine. The collaborative agreement has been negotiated and signed by Inserm Transfert, the private subsidiary of Inserm, on behalf of Inserm and Nantes University.
NovoSift® not only aims to emulate the complexity of the interactions between the epithelium and the intestinal microbiota, but also to take into account the relationships with the enteric nervous system and the immune system. The Joint Research Unit Inserm TENS (U1235 Inserm/Nantes University) has developed a recognized expertise in the field of human intestinal stem cell biology and in the interactions and cellular functions between the epithelium, the enteric nervous system and the microbiota.
This new collaboration will allow to scale up NovoBiome’s ambition to have a robust and dynamic human relevant model to evaluate the mechanisms at work after the oral administration of a food, a drug or a LBP1 aiming to modulate the intestinal microbiota. Embedded in the robotic high-throughput functional metagenomics units of MetaGenoPolis (French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment – INRAE), and associated with NovoBiome’s artificial intelligence algorithm, this technology will also enable NovoBiome to combine multi-OMICS and state of the art live imaging analysis to cover all fields of research and development.
Pierre-Yves Mousset, Chief Executive Officer of NovoBiome, said: “The implications of understanding the host-microbiota relationships are considerable in human health. However, this major part of physiology is currently a “black box” that the exceptional cooperation between NovoBiome and two French academic structures of excellence, Inserm and INRAE, will seek to decipher. We are extremely proud of the trust placed in us and are particularly eager to see the first results.”
“Working in close partnership with NovoBiome represents a unique opportunity to accelerate and foster the transfer of discoveries on health beneficial effects of the gut microbiota from the lab to the benefit of patients and of the overall general population.” commented Michel Neunlist, Director of the TENS unit at Inserm.
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About NovoBiome
NovoBiome is a biotech company developing Live Biotherapeutics Products, a novel and emerging class of drugs, defined by the EMA as medicinal products containing living micro-organisms such as bacteria or yeasts, which have a positive influence on the health and physiology of the host. NovoBiome is developing a proprietary platform, NovoSift®, that rationally identifies Live Biotherapeutics based on a deep understanding of functions and mechanisms.
For more information, please visit: www.novobiome.eu
About Inserm / TENS
TENS (The Enteric Nervous System in Gut and Brain diseases) is a research laboratory in translational Neurogastroenterology labelled by Inserm and Nantes University. TENS aims to understand the role of the enteric nervous system (ENS) in gastrointestinal dysfunctions observed during chronic gut (IBD) and brain diseases (neurodevelopmental – neurodegenerative – neurotraumatic). Combining multi-omic and imaging techniques as well as organoids based approaches, TENS aims at identifying defects in the interactions between the gut microbiota, intestinal epithelial cells and the ENS as a causal factor responsible for GI dysfunctions in diseases of interest and also as a source of novel microbiota based therapeutical approaches.
About Inserm
Founded in 1964, the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm) is a public science and technology institute, jointly supervised by the French Ministry of National Education, Higher Education and Research, and the Ministry of Social Affairs, Health and Women’s Rights. Inserm is the only French public research institute to focus entirely on human health and positions itself on the pathway from research laboratory to the bed of the patient. The mission of its scientists is to study all diseases, from the most common to the rarest. www.inserm.fr
About Inserm Transfert
Inserm Transfert, the private subsidiary of the French National Institute of the Health and Medical Research (Inserm), is responsible for value creation of innovations of Inserm and its academic partners in human health and promotes long-term technology transfers in line with international best practices. Inserm Transfert SA was founded in 2000, and manages, under a Public Service Management Contract (Délégation de Service Public), the entire promotion and transfer of knowledge emerging from the Inserm research laboratories to the industrial world, from invention disclosure to industrial partnerships and startups incorporation. Inserm Transfert also offers services relating to setting up and managing national, European and international projects, as well as supporting the technology transfer of clinical research and health data/databases. In 2009, Inserm Transfert and Inserm established an investment fund to finance proofs of concept. In 2005, Inserm Transfert Initiative, a dedicated seed money fund for life sciences, was created. Since 2017 a pathway for pre-entrepreneurship supports researchers/inventors who aspire to become involved in entrepreneurship. www.inserm-transfert.com
For more information, please visit: www.inserm-tens.com and www.inserm.fr
Contacts
NovoBiome
Pierre-Yves Mousset, Chief Executive Officer
+33 (0) 616 310 400
py.mousset@novobiome.eu
INRAeTransfert
Anne-Sophie Alvarez, Microbiome Communication Manager
anne-sophie.alvarez@inrae.fr
Inserm Transfert
Ingrid Hargot, Communication Manager
Ingrid.HARGOT@inserm-transfert.fr
Consilium Strategic Communications
Amber Fennell, Suki Virji, Genevieve Wilson
+44 (0) 203 709 5000
eurekare@consilium-comms.com
1 LBPs are medicinal products containing living micro-organisms such as bacteria or yeasts, which have a positive influence on the health and physiology of the host. Source: Ph. Eur. Monograph 3053 (EDQM, 2019)
