Technical platforms

The research unit BSC - Biotechnolgy and Cell Signaling has several technical platforms available for the research teams, as well as privileged access to technology platforms on the campus and a partnership with the PCBIS - UMS 3286 screening platform dedicated to drug discovery.

Microscopy

This platform provides researchers with access to tools for performing cellular imaging, including fluorescence microscopes for the detection of the majority of chromophores in visible wavelengths:

  • A Leica DMRA2 upright microscope equipped with a Hamamatsu ORCA-ER camera, with the OpenLab 5 acquisition software (Improvision) and 3D deconvolution with the software Volocity (Improvision)
  • A Leica DM5500B upright microscope equipped with a Leica CTR 6000 camera
  • A Nikon Eclipse TE2000U inverted microscope equipped for fluorescence and with a Leica DFC 425C camera
  • A Leica inverted microscope, equipped for fluorescence and with a color camera

Platform manager : Jean-Christophe AME (IR1 CNRS)

Cell culture

The institute has a cell culture platform consisting of seven culture rooms accessible to research teams. These rooms are equipped with CO2 incubators, inverted microscopes, 6 laminar flow hoods and 9 class II biological safety cabinets.

Platform managers : Valérie UTARD (AI CNRS) and Bruno CHATTON (PR1)

Protein production

The Unit hosts a platform (IMPReSs, Integral Membrane Proteins Research and Services) dedicated to the production and purification of recombinant proteins. The platform offers dedicated services for the production of membrane proteins such as GPCRs, transporters, ion channels, glycoproteins, or other cytosoluble proteins (oncoproteins, antibody fragments, etc.). It provides a panel of optimized methods and tools ranging from the cloning of the gene of interest to the production, purification and analysis of proteins.

Platform manager : Renaud WAGNER (IRHC CNRS)

Find more information on the IMPReSs webpage.

Animal facility

The teams have access to a conventional animal facility (level A1) dedicated to breeding of mutant and transgenic mouse lines. The animal facility has a capacity of 1200 mice housed in ventilated cabinets under strictly controlled conditions, and is equipped to perform phenotypic and behavioral studies.

Partnership with the screening platform PCBIS - UMS 3286

Our teams have privileged access to the Platform of Integrative Chemical Biology of Strasbourg (PCBIS, UMS 3286), housed in the same building at the ESBS. The PCBIS platform offers a chain of resources to implement high throughput screens of bioactive molecule and accelerate the discovery of new drugs. Certified ISO 9001 and NF X50-900, it is the first public drug discovery platform in Europe.

The platform offers various services:

  • Chemical libraries. This service collects and packages libraries of molecules for high-throughput screenings and offers structure-activity studies. The platform has access to more than 50,000 molecules from laboratories (Chimiothèque Nationale) and 1280 drugs (Prestwick Chemical).
  • Development of custom screenings. This service provides validation and miniaturization of biological tests, as well as the production of molecular and cellular targets for screening (from cloning to expression in eukaryotic cells and obtaining stable or transient cell lines).
  • High Throughput Screenings. The platform has robotic equipment to perform high-throughput screening of molecules on biological models, analyze results and identify new targets.
  • Pre-clinical ADME-Tox tests. The TechMedILL service evaluates the chemical properties and ADME-Toxicity to optimize the active molecules in the preclinical phase: physico-chemical properties (solubility, stability, pKa ...), absorption properties, distribution, metabolism, elimination (ADME), cellular tests (permeability, toxicity ...), in vivo analyzes.

Platform manager : Pascal VILLA (IRHC CNRS)

Find more information on the PCBIS website.

Other technology platforms on the campus

- Genomics (high throughput sequencing, microarrays)

- Cell sorting (flow cytometry)

- Proteomics (mass spectrometry)

- Structural biology (X-ray crystallography, NMR...)

- Imaging (photonic and electron microscopy)

- Antibody production

- Generation and phenotyping of genetic models (Institut clinique de la souris)