OBJECTIVES
The scientific objectives of the BTSB team are to propose answers to societal issues arising from the emergence of resistance phenomena in human medicine, veterinary medicine, agronomy and the impact of bioactive substances (drugs, phytosanitary) on the environment. . Thus, the proposed scientific project stems from two major societal issues: the search for new drug molecules alternative to antibiotics and the management of environmental risks associated with drug rejection. The project is therefore reflected by the development of two lines of academic research, convergent, in continuity with the work of the previous contract. The team is also developing a partnership research activity with the local but also national economic fabric.
Academic research
Axis 1:
Research, characterize and study bioactive substances of natural origin that can be valorized in the fields of human medicine, veterinary medicine or agronomy. The underlying work aims at the research of biological activities of antimicrobial type (alternative to antibiotics and / or phytosanitary), immunomodulators (in order to stimulate the immune defenses of organisms and thus allow a new approach in the fight against pathologies) and presenting a limited lifetime (biodegradable) to reduce the risk of pollution found today with pesticides, but also drugs. The model developed since 2006 is ant venom and insect hemolymph with a molecular target, bioactive peptides (antimicrobial, neuroactive, immunomodulatory, antitumoral).
Axis 2:
Identify, understand, limit the undesirable effects of bioactive substances (natural or synthetic) on organisms and the environment. It involves both characterizing and evaluating the impacts of bioactive substances and understanding their effect on organisms, from their toxicity to their detoxification. Studies in progress concern psychotropic drugs (dispersion and environmental contamination, life cycle, effects, …) whose effects we are exploring on various aquatic organisms raised in the laboratory.
These two axes are therefore at the two extremes (upstream and downstream) of the life of a bioactive substance that is exploited on a societal scale. If we take a drug for example, the skills, methodologies and tools used to evaluate its mode of action when it is discovered are the same as for assessing its effects on organisms when it is released into the environment.
Partnership research
Finally, realizing one of the main missions of the institution and in the framework of a transfer of basic research towards the support of industrial innovation, the team develops a long-term partnership research with the local, regional and national economic fabric.