R & D Programs

The Cluster’s R&D Fields

The cluster is organized around two programs:

• Diagnostics; Vaccines
• New Therapies

It also takes part in the development of Technological Building Blocks (interactome, micro and nanotechnologies, protein expression, system-molecule optimization, vectorology, vaccinomics or ex-vivo screening, cell biology and culture media and structural biology).

The cluster’s fields are: infectious diseases, virology, bacteriology, parasitology, mycology and immunology

An epidemiological surveillance function will also be developed by the cluster (surveillance, identification of new emerging pathogens, a database and a strain collection).

The diagnostics program concerns molecular and cellular diagnostics.
It includes projects involving development of multi-parametric DNA/RNA detection tests, automation of “on chip” laboratories, biological exploration and detection of new pathogens, the study of infectious pathologies and identification of their prognostic markers and predictive elements.

The Vaccines and New Therapies program aims to:

• Develop prophylactic vaccines to prevent major pandemics such as the Avian Flu or Dengue Fever, as well as new therapeutic approaches in order to specialize treatments for chronic infectious diseases (such as Hepatitis C)
• Optimize therapies by working on delivery systems, potentialization and vectorization of active ingredients
• Reinforce the means of prevention and treatment while seeking to better meet patients’ specific needs

The technological building blocks aim to bring new therapeutic approaches in order to:

• Transfer them directly to the projects
• Provide the programs with key technologies that meet firms’ needs, by creating physical resources and sharing equipment and personnel

Lyonbiopôle: "A Project Factory"

When founded, Lyonbiopôle was designed by its members as:

• A means to liaise with and bring together firms and academic researchers on projects and give them a better understanding of each other’s needs and products or services.
• "A factory" to generate multi-partner R&D projects to launch new products more quickly and safely in order to create value added and jobs. The focus is on the identified strengths of the Lyon and Grenoble areas in the field of infectious diseases.

To generate more projects, the cluster also plans to:

- Develop technological and scientific activities (forums, networks, the identification of major technological challenges, etc.)

- Create physical platforms, namely the Infectious Disease Center.

- Search for public and private funding for R&D projects.

A first set of concrete results

Since 2005, the cluster has supported some one hundred projects, including 53 that were accredited.

Total amount of investment: €125 million

This includes €43 million in public funding.

To date, for 22 R&D projects requiring approximately €87 million in investment, approximately €28 million in public funding has been obtained from the French State and local authorities, from the National Research Agency (ANR) and from the European Commission.