Lyon, October 12th, 2015 – BIOASTER, Microbiology Technology Institute, announced that it has confirmed and started a collaboration for the study of an Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) rapid diagnostic system with FUJIFILM Corporation.
In order to prevent a future outbreak of the disease, it is important to easily diagnose EVD patients at early stage and implement initial response measures to break the chain of infection. To that end, there is an urgent need to develop new technologies and products for rapid and reliable diagnosis tools to be used at the patients’ bedside. This joint study aims at establishing a simple, rapid, small-size and portable diagnostic system, with high diagnostic capabilities, comparable to molecular testing.
The system will be combining FUJIFILM’s high sensitivity virus (already used in the detection of the flu virus) detection technology with Ebola virus antibodies which are produced and evaluated by BIOASTER. This collaborative project will be conducted in Lyon, with experts from BIOASTER and FUJIFILM working together in the same laboratory. The research will be led in collaboration with Jean Mérieux Biosafety Level 4 Laboratory in Lyon (INSERM).
Nathalie Garçon, Chief Executive and Scientific Officer at BIOASTER comments: “Serving major challenges in health is at the heart of our mission and we are proud to contribute to the fight against the devastating Ebola Virus. Diagnostic is a very critical step in this fight and the argentic amplification technology developed by FUJIFILM is a promising approach to detect the presence of the virus with results in three to fifteen minutes. We are very enthusiast to work with FUJIFILM in translating this technology for the detection of EVD. We are also very excited to conduct this new project with our first partner in Asia”.
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About FUJIFILM
For Fujifilm, solving social tasks in the medical field is an opportunity for business growth. Fujifilm will continue to proactively promote research and development to expand its operations and contribute to the development of medicine around the world, as well as maintain and advance human health through innovative products.
Fujifilm website: https://fujifilm.jp/
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About BIOASTER
BIOASTER is a Technology Research Institute (TRI) which leads research programs in the four major application fields of microbiology and infectious diseases: vaccines, antimicrobials, diagnosis and microbiota. BIOASTER implements transdisciplinary R&D programs that bring together academics, SMEs and industrials around key thematics and technology units.
Each project is undertaken by a team of high-level scientists and engineers that benefits from state-of-the-art equipment, technological infrastructures and academic research excellence.
BIOASTER, an independent non-profit organization, is one of 8 French TRIs created in 2012 on the initiative of the French Government through the “Investments for the Future” program. The two historical founders are Lyonbiopôle (Lyon Competitiveness Cluster) and the Institut Pasteur in Paris. They were joined from the beginning by the CEA, the CNRS, the INSERM, Mérieux Institute, Danone Nutricia Research and Sanofi Pasteur to create a unique Technology Institute dedicated to microbiology and infectious diseases in health. The Institute benefits from the support of Lyon Métropole and the Region Rhône Alpes and the dynamism of a group of 40 SMEs in the Lyon and Paris regions.
Located in Lyon and Paris, BIOASTER has more than 100 employees including 80 world-class scientists and engineers originating from 16 different countries.
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