The Laboratory

Pierre BELICHARD
CEO
ENTEROME

As part of the development of our candidate EB8018 designed to block bacteria expressing virulence factor FimH (a key inducer of the inflammatory cascade of the intestine, particularly in patients with Crohn disease), we have successively called upon the services of SMALTIS. In the preclinical phase, they first quantified in vitro the adhesion and invasion capacities of a collection of strains isolated from patients on a model of intestinal cell infection and then evaluated the impact of our molecule on these strains. The quality of the work performed, the level of expertise of the team combined with the ability to listen and adapt, led us to include SMALTIS as a service provider in our Phase 1b clinical study. The team developed a customized procedure to isolate and dissociate bacteria called "adherent" and "invasive" in intestinal biopsies, and then demonstrated the action of our EB8018 compound on these strains. SMALTIS continues to support the development of EB8018 in a phase 2a clinical trial.

Caroline GEBUS
Bioprocess Scientist
OM Pharma

We use Escherichia coli strains to manufacture our Uro-Vaxom® product for the prevention of recurrent lower urinary tract infections and co-treatment of acute urinary tract infections and, in accordance with regulatory requirements, we must demonstrate the stability of our strains. We therefore asked SMALTIS to develop a tailor-made quality control method. In addition to their ability to listen to customer needs and propose new ideas, the SMALTIS team has also distinguished itself by the quality and accuracy of its analysis reports. At present, the partnership established with SMALTIS is a real asset for OM Pharma.

Igor MIERAU
Director of Genetic Engineering and Manufacturing
AUREALIS THERAPEUTICS

Aurealis Therapeutics develops multi-target, scalable low COGS cell & gene therapies for unmet medical needs. As part of this effort, we needed to identify a laboratory to support specific research studies and meet regulatory objectives. We identified Smaltis, CRO expert in microbiology and molecular biology, able to answer our needs such as assessing the antimicrobial properties of some of our bacterial strains. We also exchanged about other protocols that could be put in place for our projects of strain characterization or clinical samples analysis. Smaltis is really a true partner for us, with which we can exchange about different purposes and collaborate to identify the best tests to be developed. We are happy to work with this passioned, reactive and flexible team!

Nathalie ROUDIER
Science & Innovation Director
BIOPROX HEALTHCARE

In the context of the use of probiotic strains as dietary supplements, we needed to evaluate the inhibition potential of pathogenic strains. We identified Smaltis, with whom we were able to discuss the various possible models adapted to our needs. Smaltis was able to deploy and optimize a protocol to demonstrate the desired effects. The Smaltis team proved to be very attentive to our needs and was able to meet the challenges we faced in adapting to the constraints of the living world. We were also able to call on the company to determine the Minimum Inhibitory Concentration of probiotic strains, in line with EFSA recommendations. We will continue to call on the Smaltis team if we ever need to turn to a quality service provider specialized in microbiology and molecular biology.

Clara LEANDRO
Head of Infection
TECHNOPHAGE

The advancement of Technophage's therapeutic pipeline products has received crucial support from SMALTIS in the scope of genetic modification of bacterial strains. Throughout this collaborative effort, the SMALTIS scientific team has demonstrated remarkable commitment to resolving various technical challenges, successfully aligning with our objective of acquiring a set of strains for our internal utilization, all within the stipulated timeline.

Delphine GALLAND
Head of Preclinical Clinical Studies
VETOQUINOL

For the past 10 years, we have regularly turned to Smaltis for their services and expertise in microbiology, cellular biology, and molecular biology. The entrusted work focused on evaluating the efficacy and safety of various products related to infectious diseases. The smoothness of our interactions, the responsiveness of the entire team, and their adaptation to our regulatory requirements have allowed us to advance our research projects optimally. The trust we have placed in Smaltis over these 10 years has led us to include this provider among our preferred contacts.

Karine ROGET
Chief Scientific Officer
NEXBIOME

As part of our programs to harness microbiota to improve human health, we called on Smaltis to demonstrate the antimicrobial activity of our pharmaceutical product to combat vaginosis. Smaltis demonstrated great expertise and efficiency in setting up relevant protocols adapted to our objective, while coping with the complexities inherent in handling particular strains in equally complex environments. The energy deployed by the Smaltis team and their ability to adapt have confirmed our choice of this expert, on whom we can rely for our other projects.

Thomas GLOUDEN
PCR Development Expert
UNISENSOR

As part of the development of a simple, rapid molecular test for the detection of certain pathogenic micro-organisms in milk, we needed to work with a company with expertise in microbiology. We were looking for a qualified and experienced laboratory to prepare calibrated microbial suspensions and purified genetic material from different bacterial species. By identifying Smaltis, we were able to fully achieve our objectives thanks to the expertise of their team. We now regularly rely on this trusted partner for our recurring needs.

Agustina LLANOS
Head of Biology
ANTABIO

We have collaborated with Smaltis on several occasions since 2014, notably as part of our ANT3273 project. This is an inhaled medicine targeting a key virulence factor of Pseudomonas aeruginosa involved in pathogenesis and would be an alternative or complement to existing antibiotic therapy for the treatment of P. aeruginosa infections in chronic respiratory diseases, such as bronchiectasis. Recently, Smaltis successfully completed a MLST sequencing project of a large number of strains with a very tight timeline to study the clonality of clinical isolates of P. aeruginosa from cystic fibrosis patients. The Smaltis team stands out for its expertise, proactive approach, and its communication and adaptability, which is why we continue to trust them.

Elise JACQUIN
Associate Professor in Cell Biology
Unité CTM, Inserm U1231, Université de Bourgogne

To test the impact of mutations identified in cancer patients, we needed to reproduce them in an expression plasmid in order to measure their effects in cell transfection models. So we turned to Smaltis and their expertise in genetic engineering. The team understood our needs perfectly, and was able to efficiently implement the directed mutagenesis strategy to obtain the desired plasmids, while guaranteeing their high quality. As a result, we were able to rapidly carry out test manipulations, which proved conclusive and enabled us to obtain the preliminary data needed to submit a major funding application. We were fully satisfied with the team's professionalism in managing this project, and with the regular and easy exchanges of information on the progress of the manipulations. We look forward to working with Smaltis again in the future.

Olivier DHELLIN
Director of Pharmaceutical Development
NEOVACS

During our program to develop and industrialize the production of our Kinoïdes® vaccines, SMALTIS has proven to be a partner of choice for optimizing one of our cytokine production systems. Its service consisted in optimizing the genetic heritage of the host bacterium by excising DNA from exogenous sequences. Very attentive and with a rare expertise in microbiology, the SMALTIS team has always been benevolent and has never hesitated to guide us by providing sound advice. It is with pleasure that we will again call upon the services of SMALTIS to help us in our next challenges.

Jérôme SCHMEISSER and Christelle IACONIS
Biology lab manager
and Scientist
DSM-FIRMENICH

In the context of our developments in animal health dietary supplements, we turned to SMALTIS to assess the impact of our products on the expression of genes of interest in different tissues. The molecular biology expertise of SMALTIS allows us to rely on this laboratory, whose qualitative results provide us with robust and reliable data. We also benefit from constructive exchanges with their teams to progress together throughout the project. SMALTIS thus constitutes a true extension of our R&D department, allowing us to focus on our own expertise while relying on this partner with whom we will continue to collaborate.

Nicolas CHABERT
Chief Technical Officer
BIOINTRANT

As part of the development of our microbial biostimulants, and to ensure the health and safety of users of our products, we needed to evaluate the cytotoxicity of bacterial strains against a cell line. In this context, we turned to Smaltis to meet our needs. Their attentiveness and rigor in setting up the experimental conditions to perfectly match the expectations of the project, as well as the regular exchanges we benefited from, totally satisfied us. The analyses carried out met our strictest expectations in terms of safety of use, and provided us with reliable, interpretable results.

Eric ROBINET
Founder and President
LYMPHOBANK

Specialized in the production of cell banks from blood, for research and patient use, we needed to rely on a microbiology company to ensure the absence of contamination in our products from the start of our preparations. Established at the time in the premises of the EFS, it was only natural that we turned to Smaltis, located a few steps from our laboratories. Their work approach and the reliability of their results were exactly what we were looking for, and for several years now, we have entrusted them with all our microbiological analyses. The growth of our respective companies led us to look for new premises... and it is with pleasure that we took over the premises of Smaltis, who then moved into the building just across the street! It is important to have Smaltis in our network of reliable partners with common values, to contribute to the improvement of health!

Romain DAILLERE
Head of Preclinical Research - Co-founder
EVERIMMUNE

As part of the Oncobax®-AK project and the development of Live Biotherapeutic Products to potentiate the efficacy of cancer immunotherapies, we called upon Smaltis' services to characterize one of our candidate bacterial strains. The objective was to provide a complete file to the regulatory authorities regarding the characteristics of the strain, before initiating clinical studies. The Smaltis team worked hard to develop the protocols and test conditions necessary to determine the specificities of the strain of interest. The rigor shown by Smaltis' researchers, the quality and detail of the data transmitted, as well as the scientific relevance of the various characterization tests, allowed us to meet the regulatory requirements and to initiate the clinical trials with confidence. We are delighted to have collaborated with Smaltis.

Sophie MAC-MARY
CEO
SKINEXIGENCE

Smaltis is a laboratory that set up in the same building as our company, Skinexigence, from its inception. The proximity of our offices and the identification of a very interesting collaboration opportunity allowed us to quickly initiate a partnership to meet the growing demand from our clients for studies on the skin microbiota of volunteers. Specialized in the evaluation of the effectiveness of dermo-cosmetic products, it was only natural that we turned to Smaltis to provide our clients with expertise in the study of skin flora. For these studies, Smaltis performs skin sampling on our volunteers, sample preparation, and metagenomic analyses. The development of a very rigorous and calibrated protocol enables them to access relevant and reliable information regarding the evolution or not of the skin microbiota of a subject, in relation to the clinical parameters we observe.

Eric SAMARUT
Co-founder and Scientific Director
OSTA THERAPEUTICS

Smaltis is an important partner for us, with whom we have established a close and early relationship to support the development of our new anti-infective molecules. We sought their recognized expertise in the field of antimicrobials and antibiotic resistance to support our proof of concept of the efficacy of our compounds, using specific strains from their mutant collection. With the help of growth kinetics, determination of Minimal Inhibitory Concentrations, and precise construction of mutant strains, along with their insightful advice and regular constructive exchanges, we obtained solid and essential elements to secure our data and continue our project.

Laurence RINGENBACH
Cell Biology Lab Manager,
Immunodiagnostic Reagents,
DIACLONE SAS part of Medixbiochemica

Smaltis is a long-term partner with whom we have established a privileged relationship. We work in highly complementary domains and collaborate regularly to provide a comprehensive offering to our clients, utilizing microbiology and molecular biology services that we specifically require. We engage them for services such as sample contamination analysis, production of competent bacteria, and preparation of suspensions of inactivated strains for the development of new monoclonal antibodies. A true bond of trust has developed, facilitated by the geographical proximity of our respective locations and easy communication with their teams, whose flexibility, tenacity in problem-solving, and quality of work are crucial for us.

Pascal MERTENS
R&D Director
CORIS BIOCONCEPT

As part of the development of rapid in vitro diagnostic (IVD) tools for detecting infectious pathologies in humans, we needed to evaluate the performance of new tests dedicated to the detection of bacterial antibiotic resistance mechanisms. We approached Smaltis, a company specializing in microbiology and molecular biology, and found them ideally suited to our needs. Smaltis made its expertise available to assess the efficacy and robustness of our tests on clinical strains with very specific antibiotic resistance profiles, compared with a molecular biology method. The results confirmed the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of our test, and enabled us to meet regulatory requirements. For us, the Smaltis laboratory is an expert player on whom we can rely to support our developments and obtain the data we need to bring our tools to market.

Nicolas COULIN
Laboratory Manager
SOLICAZ

Solicaz develops natural bacterial biostimulation solutions to meet the challenges of agro-ecological transition and climate change. These PGPG (Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria) bacteria provide benefits for improving plant growth and resistance. In order to exploit their full potential, we needed to call on a molecular biology expert to robustly determine the identity of a pool of selected strains. We identified Smaltis, who fully met our expectations by providing comprehensive expertise. The laboratory proved to be a true partner of choice, with whom we worked jointly to identify and test the method best suited to our needs. Their flexibility and commitment ensure that we have reliable results, and despite the geographical distance that separates us, our various subsidiaries will continue to work with Smaltis.

Maxime GUALTIERI
CSO
NOSOPHARM

As part of our anti-infective molecule developments, we have repeatedly sought the expertise of the Smaltis team for cloning and construction of specific mutants. The services provided by Smaltis have notably contributed to our study describing and characterizing new mechanisms of resistance to Odilorhabdines in Klebsiella pneumoniae, which was published in 2021. We know that we can rely on their know-how and expert scientific advice for our future developments.

Vincent THOMAS
R&D Innovation Director,
LALLEMAND HEALTH SOLUTIONS

As part of our R&D projects to develop innovative new products, we collaborated with the specialist laboratory Smaltis, to support certain stages requiring specific microbiology expertise. The Smaltis team became fully involved in our projects, and together we were able to design the manipulations in line with our objectives and the scientific data in the literature. The strong partnership approach demonstrated by this research provider enabled us to obtain qualitative data in line with our objectives, and to be able to count on a team committed to working with us.