The ATB-Discover project, led by DEINOVE, IBMM and the LMP of the University of Montpellier, is supported by the European Union and Occitania Region

The ATB-Discover project, led by DEINOVE, IBMM and the LMP of the University of Montpellier, is supported by the European Union and Occitania Region

• DEINOVE is intensifying its collaboration with the Max Mousseron Institute of Biomolecules (IBMM) and the Physical Measurement Laboratory (LMP) of the University of Montpellier to accelerate the discovery and identification of new antimicrobial molecules.
• ATB-Discover aims to develop innovative analytical approaches based on the use of Ultra High Resolution Mass Spectrometry.
• The European Regional Development Fund (FEDER) and the Occitania Region have granted €560K and €430K, respectively, to the ATB-Discover project over a 30-month period.

DEINOVE (Euronext Growth Paris : ALDEI), a French biotech company pioneering the exploration and exploitation of bacterial biodiversity to address the urgent and global challenge of antimicrobial resistance, announces its collaboration with the Max Mousseron Institute of Biomolecules (IBMM) and the Physical Measurement Laboratory (LMP) of the University of Montpellier for the co-development of new analytical approaches based on the use of Ultra High Resolution Mass Spectrometry, over a 30-month period. This project benefits from a €990K funding from the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER) and the Occitania Region.

The ATB-Discover partnership research project was selected in the framework of the call for proposals “Regional Research and Innovation Platforms” (PRRI), in line with the regional innovation strategy “Innovative and targeted therapies”.

ATB-Discover aims to complete and strengthen DEINOVE’s in-house analytical capabilities. This project is in total synergy with DEINOVE’s industrial strategy for the development of new antimicrobials, which was recently supported by two other independent expert committees (see France Relance¹ and Priority Research Program “Antibiotic Resistance”² press releases).

ATB-Discover also contributes to the territorial policy by federating a scientific, institutional and economic community committed to the societal challenges of MUSE “Montpellier University of Excellence: Nourish/Care/Protect”³. This innovative collaborative research project relies on a vast range of techniques and expertise in analytical chemistry, and more particularly in mass spectrometry, available at the Max Mousseron Institute of Biomolecules⁴ and the Physical Measurement Laboratory⁵.

ATB-Discover will accelerate the identification of active antimicrobial molecules in bacterial extracts at DEINOVE:

• Better detection of molecules of interest based on increased sensitivity during analysis;
• Determination of the molecular formula of each molecule of interest enabled by the extreme precision of Ultra High Resolution;
• Rapid determination of structures of unknown molecules using a dedicated software suite.

“ATB-Discover will strengthen our interactions with highly qualified and internationally recognized scientists from the University of Montpellier. It will allow us to develop and implement innovative strategies using the most powerful state-of-the-art technology. The identification of the molecule responsible for the antimicrobial activity in an environment that may contain several thousand molecules is certainly one of the most complex steps in the process. There is no doubt that this project will increase our capacity to discover active molecules and serve our priority goal: to bring new therapies to patients.”, explains Georges GAUDRIAULT, Chief Scientific Officer of DEINOVE.

“We are pleased to be able to rely on the support of the European Union and the Occitania Region in the implementation of the ATB-Discover project. This funding is essential at a time when the world is more than ever driven by biotechnology companies in the finding of new treatments for multi-resistant bacteria”, adds Alexis RIDEAU, Chief Executive Officer of DEINOVE.

« The ATB-Discover project perpetuates a long-standing scientific collaboration with DEINOVE. The backing of the Occitania Region and the European Union has been decisive in financing the human and material resources necessary for the rapid progress of such ambitious research. The acquisition of very high technology equipment represents a sustainable investment to develop and promote a chemistry serving mankind and his environment within the University of Montpellier”, says Christine ENJALBAL, Professor at the Max Mousseron Institute of Biomolecules and Director of the Physical Measurement Laboratory of the University of Montpellier.

ABOUT DEINOVE

DEINOVE is a French biotechnology company pioneering the exploration of a new domain of life, unexplored at 99.9%: the “microbial dark matter”. By revealing the metabolic potential of rare bacteria or still classified as uncultivable, it tackles a global health and economic challenge: antimicrobial resistance. The new therapies discovered and developed by DEINOVE target superbugs (microbes that have become resistant to one or more antimicrobials) that cause life-threatening infections which are now spreading at high speed.

This breakthrough approach gave rise to one of the world’s first specialized micro-biotechnology platforms and a unique collection of nearly 10,000 rare strains and thousands of bacterial extracts. Today, DEINOVE is conducting several development programs, of which its first antibiotic candidate is currently evaluated in a Phase II clinical trial in severe Clostridioides difficile infections, one of the world’s first emergencies. The Company has also developed new bacterial micro-factories that address the other issue in the race against antimicrobial resistance: the industrial production of these rare and low concentrated compounds with often too complex chemical structures to be generated by chemical synthesis.
Located at the heart of the Euromedecine park in Montpellier, DEINOVE has been listed on EURONEXT GROWTH® (ALDEI – code ISIN FR0010879056) since 2010. The Company has over 50 employees and relies on a network of world-class academic, technological, industrial and institutional partners.

ABOUT IBMM

IBMM is a unique research laboratory in Europe bringing together over 300 people from the University of Montpellier (UM), the CNRS and the Advanced National School of Chemistry in Montpellier (l’Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Montpellier) (ENSCM) carrying out research on living molecules (biomolecules) and their roles in and effects on health and the environment. This research at the interface of chemistry and biology contributes to a better understanding of physiological and physiopathological mechanisms as well as to the development of innovative tools for health: new and more efficient treatments (cancers, cardiovascular diseases, neurodegenerative diseases), new medical devices, new cosmetic approaches and new diagnostic systems. IBMM has contributed to the market approval of two drugs and the creation of more than 8 companies.

ABOUT LMP

The LMP is a service laboratory whose mission is to provide physico-chemical analyses to meet the needs of researchers in extremely diverse fields, from organic chemistry to biomolecules, the environment and health. This technological platform of the University of Montpellier is an integral part of the Analysis and Characterization Platform (PAC) of the Balard Chemistry Pole (Pôle Chimie Balard), which provides academic and private partners with high-performance high-tech equipment backed by the expertise of dedicated technical staff.
The LMP thus possesses skills and know-how in the characterization of samples in life chemistry. The analytical equipment, grouped in three complementary departments (Liquid Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, Mass Spectrometry and Elementary Analysis), allows access, according to the needs of research projects, to the detection, identification, structural characterization and quantification of organic molecules and biomolecules of interest, whether they are synthesized or naturally present in complex media (biological fluids, natural extracts). The LMP is able to answer many multidisciplinary analytical questions at the biology-health and agronomy-ecology interface.

CONTACTS

1https://urlz.fr/fZOk
2https://urlz.fr/fZOl
3 https://muse.edu.umontpellier.fr
4 https://ibmm.umontpellier.fr
5 https://lmp.edu.umontpellier.fr

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