Louis Pasteur University in high-throughput screening collaboration

Collaboration agreed

Louis Pasteur University of Strasbourg, France is to collaborate with the US microfluidics expert RainDance Technologies and the pharma company Sanofi-Aventis in the development of dScreen, a high-throughput screening system for drug discovery.

The consortium has backing from the investment agency Alsace Biovalley Cluster, which helped secure financing and support for the programme.

The dScreen Consortium brings together the drug screening expertise of Sanofi-Aventis, skills in droplet-based micro reactors from the Chemical Biology Laboratory at the Institute for Science and Supramolecular Engineering (ISIS) in Louis Pasteur University, and RainDance Technologies’ capabilities in applying droplet-based microfluidic technologies to human health and disease research.

“We are delighted to enter this partnership with two highly innovative research groups in this rapidly advancing field,” said Martin Galvan, Scientific Director at the Sanofi-Aventis research site in Strasbourg. “The expected gains in terms of productivity and knowledge should significantly accelerate our drug discovery programmes.”

Chris McNary, President and Chief Executive Officer of RainDance Technologies, said, “The simplicity, speed and minute volume of our technology replaces current complex automation solutions in high-throughput screening. [It] will process 10 million droplets per hour on a single benchtop instrument, dramatically accelerating the drug discovery process while conserving precious screening compounds.”

Pascal Neuville, President of Alsace Biovalley said the dScreen Consortium is a great illustration of France’s “Pôle de Compétitivité” cluster development policy. “The development of breakthrough innovations in drug screening through collaborative R&D programmes strengthens businesses such as the Sanofi-Aventis research site and [has prompted] the creation of a US subsidiary company in Alsace. Furthermore, the establishment of a drug screening services platform based on the results of the programme will reinforce the capabilities of our cluster.”

RainDance was founded in 2004 by scientists from Harvard University; the UK Medical Research Council’s Molecular Biology Centre in Cambridge, England and the Ecole Supérieure de Physique et de Chimie Industrielles in Paris.