Red blood cell (RBC) allo-immunization is the immune response of an individual to foreign RBC antigens not present on the surface of their own cells. An efficient detection of alloantibodies is of major interest to manage transfusions in regularly transfused patients, or for the pregnancy follow-up in the context of haemolytic disease of the foetus and new-born (HDFN). However, The Rh blood group system is one of the most polymorphic and immunogenic system, defined by least 54 Rh antigens, some of which being very rare in the population. To date, available commercial test cell reagents, composed of red cell panels expressing different Rh phenotypes, are able to encompass only few of these Rh specificities. Researchers have developed a cell-free system for the production of RH proteins, allowing to obtain large quantities of these proteins in their native state. The method, validated on RhD and RhD-RhAG antigens, relies on the use of in-house assembled nanodiscs, able to incorporate membrane proteins, preserving not only the solubility but also the conformation of newly synthetized membrane proteins. This is to date the first method allowing to generate in vitro Rh antigens with a correct conformation and, thus, ready to be tested by several antibodies, thereby representing a new approach for diagnostic in hematology laboratories investigations.
In attempting to measure SARS-CoV-2 RNA in patients’ blood, the inventors observed that RNase P RNA, a ubiquitous and aspecific human intracellular RNA marker used as an internal control, was strongly correlated with disease severity and intubation status in COVID-19 hospitalized patients with a 5-fold difference in median concentration when comparing critical cases to healthy subjects. Moreover, strong correlation between the event of death and plasmatic RNase P concentration at hospital admission permitted the determination of a concentration threshold that could allow the use of this quantitative plasmatic biomarker as a prognosis tool in COVID-19 hospitalized patients in complement to conventionally collected clinical parameters. These observations reflect the impressive clinical value of plasma RNase P RNA as a surrogate biomarker of COVID-19-induced global cell/tissue damage and the severity of COVID-19 pathology. Three cohorts involving a total of more than 429 patients were evaluated.
The Research Team showed that the level of circulating SARS-CoV-2 viral load increased with the severity of COVID-19 and the proportion of detectable SARS-CoV-2 RNAaemia significantly correlated with the severity of the disease. Based on this, the inventors provide a method for determining a subject’s risk of developing or exhibiting worsening of SARScoronavirus-induced acute pulmonary failure and/or systemic damage, which comprises measuring by RT-PCR the amount of circulating coronavirus RNA (RNAaemia) in a sample from the subject, the sample being a blood, plasma or serum sample. The invention also relates to a method of classifying or following-up (under treatment) a subject infected with SARS coronavirus, which method comprises measuring the amount of coronavirus RNA circulating in a sample of the subject, the sample being a blood, plasma or serum sample from the subject. Three cohorts involving a total of more than 429 patients were evaluated.
Prematurity is the leading cause of death in children under five; each year, approximately 15 million babies are born prematurely all over the world. Prematurity exposes the child and the mother to an increased risk of morbidity and death when the caregivers are not trained in specific care. The research team has developed 2 innovative training modules for training in obstetrical emergencies. The first module is a uterine cervix module created to simulate different configurations of cervical effacement. This automated training tool will allow the simulation of emergency or daily clinical situations related to pregnancy, in particular the threat of premature delivery. The second module is a 3D printed “uterine body”. The training module reproduces different scenarios to treat hemorrhages during childbirth (suture, intrauterine tamponade balloon) in order to improve professional practices and reduce maternal morbidity and mortality.
The luminal breast cancer (BC) subtype is the most diagnosed among all breast cancers with a proportion of 70%. However, although this subtype has a relatively good overall prognosis, metastatic relapse rates are highest in absolute numbers, leading to metastases in 10% of patients with luminal BC with recurrence at ten years. Therefore, there is a real need for new predictive tools to distinguish these luminal subtype tumors that will be more likely to metastasize than those that will not. This project identified for the first time that the the association of two proteins, NFAT3 and RERG, is a good prognostic marker for luminal BC with absence or low axillary lymph node colonization of metastases. This new biomarker thus contributes to better stratification of patients and will help to determine the best treatment options for patients with luminal BC.
Multi-image fusion is a good solution for performing super-resolution and denoising images, especially for low-cost image capture systems. However, in embedded systems such as satellites, drones or smartphones, the lightweight
embedded processing can be problematic. The innovative process optimizes the distribution of the computational load between the light-embedded processing device and the remote processing solution with a more powerful server. It can also considerably reduce the quantity of data to be transmitted or increase the quality of the result obtained for an equal quantity of data transmitted.
Assessing DNA integrity is a crucial step to characterize the quality of biological samples prior to in-depth genomic analysis, especially applicable in reproductive medicine, prenatal diagnosis and cancer research. Although many methods have been proposed for the assessment of DNA integrity (by electrophoresis, quantitative PCR and, more recently, microfluidic-based procedures), there is still a need to apply more sensitive and precise methods. The invention relates to a method for determining the level of integrity of DNA molecules in a sample containing DNA by multiplexing Digital PCR, which involves amplifying DNA fragments from the sample with amplification primers designed to produce different and predetermined sizes of overlapping amplicons of the same DNA target region, and oligonucleotide probes which can produce detectable and differential signals upon hybridization. Proof of concepts in two main applications have been carried out to date on human clinical samples (small cohort studies):
- By evaluating the ability of the developed clinical trial to discriminate plasma DNA samples from healthy subjects (n=25) and cancer patients (colorectal cancer (n=23), gastric cancer (n=22), pancreatic cancer (n=11))
- By evaluating the quality of DNA after storage in different blood collection tubes
Lung injury is not homogeneous because lesions are frequently distributed in the posterior regions. This exposes the lungs to inhomogeneous ventilation under mechanical ventilation with risk of overdistension of the anterior and
cyclic opening-closing of the posterior regions. These two phenomena can aggravate lung damage and lead to excess mortality. Today, no technical solution allows the homogenization of the pulmonary aeration except the prone position. The research team develops «STRAPVENT», a device whose objective is to apply a titrated compression on the compliant anterior chest wall of the thorax. This device allows a more homogeneous distribution of ventilation, protecting the anterior areas from overdistension and favoring the redistribution of ventilation towards the posterior regions. Dramatic improvement in the airways mechanics has been reported in patients with ARDS.
60% of patients admitted to intensive care are ventilated by mechanical ventilation to ensure stability and survival. These patients suffer from lesions induced by various pathologies. Lesions located in the alveoli are not evenly distributed, especially in the less compliant posterior lobes. Today, no technical solution allows a re-homogenization of this ventilation. The research team develops «VacuoVent», a device in the form of a bespoke rigid or semi-rigid thoracic shell allowing the application of an extra-thoracic negative pressure on the thoracic wall in front of the damaged lung. This device allows a more homogeneous distribution of ventilation, and is currently being evaluated on cadavers. Next step: the clinical POC.
While surgery is the main line of treatment for most solid tumors, incomplete tumor resection frequently occurs and represents an additional risk for relapse. The main challenge for surgeons is then to distinguish the surgical boundary between the lesion and the surrounding healthy tissues in an accurate manner. The research team has developed a new specific imaging agent emitting in the tissue transparency zone and targeting E-selectin, a well-known inflammation marker frequently overexpressed in several solid cancers. The imaging agent is capable to specifically detect colorectal tumor in vivo in a mouse xenograft model. This new agent can be used with portable optical imaging systems in the operating room to delineate tumor areas in order to assist surgeons in real time during resection.
It is a new biomass conversion process producing biogas and biofuels. Titanium dioxide crystal clusters are grown onto green wastes in a solvent-free process creating a photo catalyst-feedstock pair. The degradation of the green wastes occurs during exposure to visible light irradiation. After total degradation, the recovered TiO₂ is combined with new green wastes to form a new photo catalyst-feedstock pair, ready for the degradation step. This efficient circular process insures that TiO₂ dissemination into the environment does not occur.
Fungal diseases are highly relevant to human health and agriculture.
In Humans, Candidiasis, Aspergillosis or Cryptococcosis mostly affect immunocompromised patients and cause death penalties of ~1.7 million deaths per year. In plants, fungal diseases cause around 10-30% loss in crops representing a risk for food availability. While anti-fungal treatments remain unsatisfactory to date due to species diversity and adaptation mechanisms, we need new tools to assess the efficiency of newly developed drugs. Cell wall thickness is critical for the survival and development of fungal cells.
The team has developed a new method based on light microscopy and image analysis pipelines to monitor Cell Wall thickness in live cells and in large populations of living cells, thereby allowing to quickly and accurately define the thickness of the cell wall. This method can be used in fundamental and applied research, and is compatible with screening strategies to allow the identification of new agents capable of altering the cell wall.
Algorithme d’optimisation basé sur la décomposition fractale. Grâce à une nouvelle approche de couverture de l’espace cet algorithme, de très faible complexité (logarithmique), peut résoudre des problèmes avec un grand nombre de variables.
The use of a large number of connected objects in a small area causes problems at the level of the IoT network: on the one hand, an increase in delays (high contention to access the channel) and on the other hand a congestion and high packet loss rate, due to the large volume of data generated. This is the case, for example, of the connected bracelets used by spectators, gathered in restricted areas (concert halls, stadiums, etc.), to produce light effects synchronously via remote control. The proposed solution based on a multi-tier mesh network architecture with four levels of communication and algorithms makes it possible to overcome this problem and ensure an adequate quality of service (QoS).
Viologen derivatives have the ability to change color in UV-Vis range as well as to strongly absorb in near-IR. Their redox properties can also be used for electrochemical energy storage.
Based on these multifunctional materials, we are developing a dual system with electrochromic properties to adjust the optical contrast as well as the ability to store energy, resulting in an electrochromic energy storage system. Unlike commercial systems, transparent mode is here achieved without current, significantly reducing system power consumption. The organic layers can be deposited either on rigid glass or on flexible plastics. Finally, this system is being developed using bio-based products.
There are a multitude of methods for producing magnetic nanoparticles with a given magnetic behavior (paramagnetic, ferromagnetic, etc.) and a given magnetic category (soft, semi-hard, hard). But for the same composition of precursors and a given process, there is still no simple and effective way to modulate the magnetic category. Based on coprecipitation of precursors and a hydrothermal and/or solvothermal synthesis, this innovative production process allows to easily choose the magnetic category (soft, semi-hard, hard) of the nanocomposites while using the same composition of precursors.
Following acute stresses like chemotherapy or radiation, the hematopoietic system quickly adapts by a process termed “emergency” or “stress” hematopoiesis. In erythroid progenitors, the researchers recently identified a functional cellautonomous serotonergic network with pro-survival and proliferative functions (Cell Reports 2019). Pharmacologic restoration of serotonin levels using selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) such as fluoxetine, a common antidepressant, can rescue the anemic phenotype in mice models. In this project, the team has shown that the serotonergic system could be a valuable therapeutic target in radiation or chemotherapy-induced cytopenia, alone and in cooperation with known hematopoietic growth factors, such as G-CSF. Particularly, fluoxetine alone or in combination with G-CSF showed an additive effect on the recovery of the three myeloid lineages and on overall survival of mice following sub-lethal irradiation. This new combination of drugs offers interesting avenues to fasten hematopoietic recovery of cytopenia thereby decreasing the risk of complications for patients during aplasia.
Approximately 25% of primary human breast cancers are due to deregulated ErbB2/HER2 expression. Therapies targeting HER2 have improved patient survival, but de novo and acquired resistance remain a challenge, with only 25% of treated patients responding to current therapies. The researchers identified several miRNAs in the miR-200 family that are upregulated in HER2+ breast cancer cells and tumor samples and whose high expression levels are associated with worse prognosis in HER2+ breast cancer patients. They designed, optimized and validated a novel biotherapeutic ASO molecule for the inactivation of miRNA-429 for the treatment of cancers with HER2 abnormalities, including HER2+ breast, gastric and ovarian cancers.
All existing Wavefront sensors (WFS) can only measure several wavefronts by sequential image acquisition. Sequential multi-spectral WFS has several drawbacks: it is difficult to implement, expensive, and incompatible with single-pulse laser characterization. This innovative system now allows simultaneous wavefront shapes measurement at different wavelengths using the multi-spectral (broadband or multi-line) light beam. It relies on the recent development of a wavefront analyzer (DiPSI) based on the use of a simple diffuser that obviates all these drawbacks by performing spectral measurements simultaneously. This aspect is advantageous for a variety of applications such as optical metrology, laser metrology, quantitative phase imaging and ophthalmology.
The development of efficient water filtration systems is an important challenge for environmental engineering. Activated carbon is widely used for adsorption of organic pollutants. However, it is only a separation process and current regeneration processes all present some important drawbacks. A new electrochemical process for in situ regeneration of activated carbon fibers has been developed. Activated carbon fibers allow for fast adsorption of organic pollutants and are subsequently used as cathode during the regeneration process. The objective is to recover the adsorption capacity of the initial material and to degrade organic pollutants.
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