In this success story, the SABNP researchers invented a novel biological method, the Synsight entrepreneurs contributed their expertise in molecular modeling and Genopole & its ecosystem provided support at every step along the way.
In 2023, the laboratory SABNP and the start-up Synsight published an article in eLife on an integrated scientific approach for the discovery of novel therapeutic targets. That accomplishment was the result of several years of scientific research and technological development. It illustrates the benefits of public-private partnerships and the ability of Genopole to support the emergence of innovations for major societal issues such as health.
The biocluster, located in the city of Évry, just south of Paris, offers a number of advantages to its academic laboratories and biotech businesses:
- an ecosystem, uniting a cutting-edge scientific environment and office & lab accommodations, with close ties to territorial actors, including notably the University of Évry-Paris Saclay, other higher-learning institutes and the South Île-de-France medical center;
- research funding programs for a wide range of fields (human and environmental genomics, biotherapies, structural biology, bioinformatics, biomathematics, innovation management and more);;
- accompaniment programs for creating and developing biotech companies;
- shared-use technological platforms for access to state of the art research equipment;
- assistance for the acquisition of specific equipment.
A winning combination
Découvrez les étapes de cette success story en cliquant ci-dessous⬇️
The academic laboratory SABNP (Structure and Activity of Normal and Pathological Biomolecules) was founded in 2006 thanks to Genopole’s Atige program, which provided three years of financing for the creation of this new research team at the Évry campus. Under Inserm and University of Évry-Paris Saclay supervision, the team is now headed by David Pastré. To forward its research, the lab benefits from an allocation program to fund a postdoctoral researcher, four grants to fund master 2 internships and five International Mobility Grants to enable training for PhD students.
SABNP’s ability to find the complementary skillset of the start-up Synsight was greatly eased by the Évry research and innovation ecosystem within which they both evolve. Founded in 2013, accommodated within the University of Évry and benefiting from Genopole accompaniment, Synsight is an expert in artificial intelligence and molecular modeling for the discovery and design of new pharmaceuticals. In 2020, Synsight acquired an exclusive commercial use license for the MicroTubule bench technology.
This novel technology, invented by SABNP and patented by Inserm Transfert, enables the study of a key phenomenon in life, i.e., intermolecular interactions and particularly protein-RNA interactions within cells. MicroTubule bench was developed using the Structural Biology Platform and thus benefited from the financial support given to that technological infrastructure. The Genopole-accredited Structural Biology Platform is one of the biocluster’s shared-use technological platforms. It is managed by SABNP, benefiting thus from that team’s expertise.
Regular equipment-acquisition assistance has kept the platform at a technological level that earned it national recognition in 2019, when it was integrated within FRISBI, the French Infrastructure for Integrated Structural Biology.
In 2021, Genopole and the University of Évry funded the acquisition of a high-resolution imaging technology that lifted the platform to a technological level rarely attained in Europe. From a research perspective, the imaging technology provides high-precision images of normal or pathological cellular structures and mechanisms. From an industrial perspective, by producing tens of thousands of images in a matter of hours, it enables the large-scale use of MicroTubule bench. Additional assistance from Genopole to enable robotics and from the university to bring in a research engineer will further advance scale and expertise.
David Pastré, Director of SABNP:
