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Discovery made easy

About

NeoVirTech’s mission is to provide researcher state of the art virology assays using innovative, image based readout. Virology testing requires expertise, know-how and reglementary facilities involving laboratory confinement that can be difficult to access in classical labs. Also, classical virology methods are expensive and time consuming and slow down discovery processes.  

At NeoVirTech we have developed an ever-expanding catalogue of autofluorescent viruses and viral vectors for the direct imaging of antiviral drug candidates effect or disinfection procedure in the field of human health, animal health and biodefense.

The company exploits and provides access to its proprietary ANCHOR™ technology to both academic and industrial customers and has the ability to convert any kind of DNA into an autofluorescent particle. ANCHOR™ allows fast, stable, precise and quantitative measurement of virus replication in living cells, providing our customer with the best virology testing method available. The asset of ANCHOR™ technology : no fixation, no extraction, no reagents, no staining, direct imaging of viral infection and replication.

Driven by innovation, we have expended our activities on a broad variety of field, including antiviral discovery, vaccine development, oncolytic therapies, gene therapy and decontamination testing using infectious viruses.

Among our CRO activities, we have also developed proprietary product displaying broad spectrum antiviral activities that we are positioning on emerging market.

Our goal is to speed up discovery process of any solution having an impact in the infectious disease field.

A reactive team

FRANCK GALLARDO

Franck Gallardo - PhD

Founder & CEO

Franck has nearly 20 years of experience in the field of cellular biology and microscopy and 10 years of experience in virology. He holds a PhD in biochemistry from the medicine faculty of the Université de Montréal, Qc, CANADA.. In 2015, he is awarded alumnus of the year from the Riboclub society, CANADA. Franck won the Innovative Company Award from the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research as well as The French Agency for Innovation (BPI France) in 2013 and in 2016. He is also a distinguished member of the World Society of Virology.

SOKUNTHEA TOP

Sokunthea Top - PhD

Poxvirus project leader

Sokunthea obtained her PhD at the National Veterinary school of Toulouse, working on the development of poxvirus-based vaccine against bluetongue virus. Expert in the manipulation and recombination of viruses, she is in charge of managing our poxvirus projects, both in the antiviral, vaccinal and oncolytic fields. She led successfully multi-year program involving tagging of a strong collection of poxvirus for antiviral discovery (in vitro and in vivo) and vaccine development.

CHARLOTTE-QUENTIN-FROIGNANT

Charlotte Quentin-Froignant - PhD

Animal Herpes virus project manager

Charlotte holds a master in vectorology and gene therapies. After managing anti-adenovirus discovery program at NeoVirTech, Charlotte joined us following a PhD fellowship from the ANRT. After completing its CIFRE PhD, Charlotte is in charge of the development of autofluorescent herpesviruses for the discovery of new antiviral compounds and treatment of widespread animal infection. She successfully tagged an infectious clone of Equine Herpes virus 1 with our ANCHOR technology, allowing rapid antiviral screening in case of outbreak.

SANDRINE KAPPLER-GRATIAS

Sandrine Kappler-Gratias - PhD

Associate, Head of screening unit, HCS campaign

Sandrine held various position before being recruited in the ANCHOR team in 2013. Sandrine has a long expertise in the design of ANCHOR tagged viruses for live cell imaging application. She was responsible for successful program such as tagging EBV and HPV genomes. Sandrine is head of screening unit, mainly in charge of customer HCS campaign. She successfully led multi-year antiviral screening project combining antiviral measurement, mechanism of action, generation of resistant strains and SAR studies. Sandrine is trained in quality, ISO17025-ISO15189.

ELIE-MARCHETEAU

Elie Marcheteau - PhD

Oncolytics and Biodefense department

After completing a master in immuno-oncology targeting in vivo colorectal cancer at the INSERM in Paris, Elie did a CIFRE-Ph.D on siRNA technologies applied to breast cancer. Elie was in charge of studying the impact of siRNA on the tumor microenvironment, combining in vitro and in vivo studies. Elie is trained in animal experimentation and brings his expertise in in vivo manipulation and oncology at large. Its 10 years of experience in immuno-oncology is a strong asset for our oncolytic program. Elie quickly managed and assimilated NeoVirTech expertise and works now on Biodefense programs and disinfection procedures.

CHarlène

Charlène Lopez, M.sc

Engineer in oncolytic virus development

After completing a master in bioengineering at LAAS Toulouse working on bio impression techniques, Charlène then worked at the CREFRE and developed skills in animal testing. She then joined the CRCT as an engineer working on the development of oncolytic virus targeting pancreatic cancer. Charlène is trained in animal experimentation and micro surgery and brings her expertise in in vivo manipulation and oncology at large. Charlène will develop new oncolytic viruses targeting several type of cancer, from design to in vivo testing.

History

The genesis of NeoVirTech is based on the discovery of the ANCHOR™ technology that allows real-time visualization in living cells of any kind of cellular or foreign DNA. Inserted inside a viral genome, ANCHOR™ allows the following of infection and replication of a virus or any viral vector. This discovery, achieved through the joint work of 2 CNRS laboratories (LBME-LMGM) was supported by a maturation program funded by the French TTO Toulouse Tech Transfer (Toulouse, France).

2010
Technology
ANCHORTM system development
2010
2013
Distinction
The technology win the I-LAB French National Award for Innovative Technology, Emerging category
2013
2014
Fundation
NeoVirTech was founded
2014
2016
Distinction
Win for the second time, the I-LAB French National Award for Innovative Technology, Development category
2016
2019
Top company
Elected among the “top 10 drug discovery and development companies” in Europe according to PharmaTech Outlook
2019
2020
National acknowledgement
Grant from the French Defense Innovation Agency with the mission to develop medical countermeasures in case of virus outbreak, with focus on poxviruses
2020
2021
Local contribution
Grant from the Occitanie region: development of disinfection processes for Covid19 crisis.
2021
2022
Strategical alliance
Partnership with Virhealth for normative measurement of disinfection procedures
2022
New lab opening
NeoVirTech opens a new laboratory at the Cancer Research Center of Toulouse to focus on oncolytic virotherapies
2023
Strategic Alliance
NeoVirTech signs a partnership agreement with Teco Labs to develop its activity in the Asian market
2023
2024
Closing of AID grant
Closing of French Defense Innovation Agency grant, new acyclonucleoside phosphonate family as broad spectrum antivirals (TRL5)
2024
Distinction
Grant from France 2030 to develop innovative theranostic platform for cancer virotherapies