Discovery Platform

VF Bioscience has the French CIR accreditation to work as a CRO and offers contract and collaborative research services.

Our state-of-the-art R&D facility,  located in the Lille Metropole area, has all the equipment needed to carry out research programs

on microbial strain screening and characterization.

• Fully equipped discovery platform (microbiology, biochemistry, cell culture laboratories) for characterization of microbial strains, screening of biological activities, biomolecule identification.

• Pilot production line for specialty fermentation and starter strain production (30L bioreactor, concentration, freeze-drying).

VF Bioscience R&D team has developed an extensive expertise in the following areas:

• Prediction of biological activities and functional properties of microbial strains based on genomics analysis.
• Probiotic strain characterization: antibioresistance, safety, GIT survival…
• Fermentation process development: optimization of bacterial growth and metabolic activity in batch- or continuous systems, development of fermentation media (dairy, non-dairy…).

• Cell culture models (adherent on non-adherent, multi-layer cultures, organoids). Available models include intestinal cells (Caco-2, HT-29 : gut health, permeability), liver cells (HepG2 : liver protection), keratinocytes (HaCat : inflammation, apoptosis for skin health), macrophages (U937 : immune function).
• Bioanalyses : flow cytometry, qPCR for gene expression, spectrometry and spectrofluorometry for biochemical testing (ELISA, enzymatic activities, cell function and cell cycle assays…).