Section: Partnerships and Cooperations

National Initiatives

National programmes

• ANR-Purple Sun: The objective of this project (ANR-13-BIME-004, 2013-2017) is to study and optimize a new concept consisting in coupling the production of microalgae with photovoltaic panels. The main idea is to derive the excess of light energy to PV electricity production, in order to reduce the phenomena of photoinhibition and overwarming both reducing microalgal productivity.

• ANR-Facteur 4: The objective of this project (2012-2017) is to produce non OGM strain of microalgae with enhanced performance. BIOCORE is involved in the directed selection of microalgae with interesting properties from an industrial point of view. The theory of competition is used to give a competitive advantage to some species. This competitive advantage can be provided by an online closed loop controller.

• ANR-Phycover: The overall objective of the PHYCOVER project (2014-2018) is to identify a modular wastewater treatment process for the production of biogas. The method combines three modules. First, a high-rate algal pond is dedicated to the treatment of municipal wastewater. Then, an anaerobic digester capable of co-digesting biomass products (and others organic matter resources) to significantly reduce biological and chemical contaminants while producing a sustainable energy as biogas is analysed. A final module transforms the residual carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus into high-value microalgae dedicated to aquaculture and green chemistry.

• ITE-OPALE: The goal of the Institut de la Transition Énergétique - OPALE project (2016-2019) is to increase the lipid content of microalgae by specific selection pressure. The project relies on the strain already selected during the Facteur 4 project, whose productivity was 4 times higher than the wild type. We expect to still increase strain performances up to 10 times the productivity of the wild type.

• ANR-FunFit: The objective of this project (2013-2018) is to develop a trait-based approach linking individual fitness of fungal plant pathogens to ecological strategies. The idea is to derive eco-epidemiological strategies from fitness optimization in colonized environments and during colonization, as well as understanding the coexistence of sibling species. This project is co-coordinated by F. Grognard.

• ANR-TripTic: The objective of this project (2014-2018) is to document the biological diversity in the genus of the minute wasps Trichogramma, and to study the behavioral and populational traits relevant to their use in biological control programs.

• ANR-MIHMES: “Multi-scale modeling, from animal Intra-Host to Metapopulation, of mechanisms of pathogen spread to Evaluate control Strategies”, ANR – Investissement d'avenir, action Bioinformatique (ANR-10-BINF-07) & Fond Européen de Développement Régional des Pays-de-la-Loire (FEDER), 2012–2017. This project aimed at producing scientific knowledge and methods for the management of endemic infectious animal diseases and veterinary public health risks. BIOCORE participated in this project via MaIAGE, INRA Jouy-en-Josas. This project supported Natacha Go's postdoctoral position.

• ANR-ICycle: This project (2016-2020) aims at understanding the communication pathways between the cell division cycle and the circadian clock, using mathematical modeling and control theory to construct and implement two coupled synthetic biological oscillators. Project coordinated by M. Chaves.

• ANR - Maximic: The goal of the project (accepted in July 2017) is to design and implement control strategies in a bacterium from producing at maximal rate a high value product. It is coordinated by H. de Jong (IBIS Grenoble), and involves members of Biocore and McTao.

• RESET: The objective of this project (2012-2017) is to control the growth of E. coli cells in a precise way, by arresting and restarting the gene expression machinery of the bacteria in an efficient manner directed at improving product yield and productivity. RESET is an “Investissements d'Avenir” project in Bioinformatics (managed by ANR) and it is coordinated by H. de Jong (Ibis, Inria)

• SIGNALIFE: Biocore is part of this Labex (scientific cluster of excellence) whose objective is to build a network for innovation on Signal Transduction Pathways in life Sciences, and is hosted by the University of Nice Sophia Antipolis.

• UMT FIORIMED: FioriMed is a Mixed Technology Unit created in January 2015 to strengthen the production and dissemination of innovation to the benefit of ornamental horticulture. Horticultural greenhouses are seen as a "laboratory" for the actual implementation of agroecology concepts with the possibility of generic outcomes being transfered to other production systems. The main partners of UMT FioriMed are ASTREDHOR (National Institute of Horticulture) and the ISA Joint Research Unit of INRA-CNRS-Univ. Nice.

• AMIES-PEPS Exactcure: The goal of the project is to study pharmacokinetic models, in collaboration with the start-up Exactcure (Nice). This funded the M2 internship of L. Dragoni.

Inria funding

• Inria Project Lab, Algae in silico: (2014-2018) The Algae in silico Inria Project Lab, funded by Inria and coordinated by O. Bernard, focuses on the expertise and knowledge of biologists, applied mathematicians and computer scientists to propose an innovative numerical model of microalgal culturing devices. The latest developments in metabolic modeling, hydrodynamic modeling and process control are joined to propose a new generation of advanced simulators in a realistic outdoor environment. The project gathers 5 Inria project teams and 3 external teams.

• Inria Project Lab, Cosy: (2017-...) This proposal aims at exploiting the potential of state-of-art biological modeling, control techniques, synthetic biology and experimental equipment to achieve a paradigm shift in control of microbial communities. We will investigate, design, build and apply an automated computer-driven feedback system for control of synthetic microbial communities, not just accounting for but rather leveraging population heterogeneity in the optimal accomplishment of a population-level task. The development of methodologies of general applicability will be driven by and applied to two different applications closely connected with real-world problems in the biomedical and biotechnological industry. The consortium is composed of the four Inria project-teams IBIS, BIOCORE, COMMANDS, NON-A, the Inria Action Exploratoire INBIO, as well as the external partners BIOP (Université Grenoble Alpes, including members of IBIS), MaIAge (INRA), and YoukLAB (TU Delft). The project began in November.

INRA funding

• MoGeR: “From knowledge to modeling: towards a user-friendly simulation tool to test crop resistance management scenarios in the Phoma-oilseed rape case study”, INRA Metaprogramme SMaCH, 2017–2019. This is a follow-up of the K-Masstec project, which focused on sustainable strategies for the deployment of genetic resistance in the field, based on molecular knowledge on avirulence genes.

• ABCD: INRA SPE is funding the project ABCD "Augmentative Biological Control; optimizing natural ennemies Deployment" (2017-2019) in which Biocore is a partner with INRA Sophia Antipolis.

Networks

• GDR Invasions Biologiques: The objectives of this GDR are to encourage multidisciplinary research approaches on invasion biology. It has five different thematic axes: 1) invasion biology scenarios, 2) biological invasions and ecosystem functioning, 3) environmental impact of invasive species, 4) modeling biological invasions, 5) socio-economics of invasion biology. L. Mailleret is a member of the scientific comittee of the GDR .

• ModStatSAP: The objective of this INRA network is to federate researchers in applied mathematics and statistics and to promote mathematical and statistical modeling studies in crop and animal health. S. Touzeau is a member of the scientific committee.

• Seminar: BIOCORE organizes a regular seminar “Modeling and control of ecosystems” at the station zoologique of Villefranche-sur-Mer, at INRA-ISA or at Inria.