Imagine and design tomorrow’s bioassays for health
The core activity of this facility lies in the design of innovative cellular and molecular in vitro assays endowed with very high-throughput or near-instantaneous results for prognostic, diagnostic or therapeutic follow-up uses in health, and for food or environmnent monitoring. As in an ELISA, to quantify a molecule in a sample, we use a specific binder of the target molecule, a nanobody for example, and it is associated with an enzymatic reporter, a luciferase which produces an intense light. 
This LuLISA technology (Luciferase-linked immunosorbent assay) increases assay sensitivity by one to three orders of magnitude in comparison with standard ELISAs and also extends by four orders of magnitude its dynamic range. The volume of samples are downsized to microliters and the throughput is rated to several thousand assays per hour. This approach has been applied to monitor allergy severity in patients and assess the SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence in epidemiological COVID-19 pandemic surveys from nation-wide to clusters in collaboration with Santé Publique France, Médecins sans Frontières, Institut Curie and several public hospitals. 
Moreover, we are developing methods to identify altered state of cells from biological samples. This involved measuring in few seconds the force required to deform them or to break their interaction with immobilized cells or molecular targets. This approach has been applied with success for diagnosing lymphocyte alterations associated with certain chronic inflammation, autoimmunity, immunodeficiency, leukemia or cancer pathologies.
Bioassay services on large series of biologic fluids, support of bioassay development, technical evaluation of bioassays and reactive kit prototyping for research uses are also in our missions open to campus-wide and external teams from public institutions and private companies as well.
