ABOUT
Myriade is a French company created in 2017 that develops an innovative nanometric particle imaging technology.
Myriade was born from the partnership between Quattrocento (Company Builder, specialized in equipment for life sciences), Paris Sciences et Lettres, and the scientific team.
Based on the work of the Langevin Institute, a French academic laboratory specialized in optical and ultrasonic technologies for life sciences, the Myriade* imaging method is based on a single-arm interferometry technique.
It allows to visualize without labelling nanoparticles of any type and in particular biological nano-objects such as viruses, phages, or extracellular vesicles.
The process was developed by Professor Claude Boccara at the request of the virology specialist, Professor Martine Boccara, who was looking for a quick method to list viruses present in seawater samples harvested during the Tara Oceans expedition. in 2013.
*Myriade’s technology is protected by a patent family
TARA OCEANS
The aim of the Tara Oceans expedition was to take stock of marine plankton ecosystems (from viruses to fish larvae) in order to understand their functioning, but also to anticipate their relationship to climate change.
She sailed for 6 months and traveled 25,000 km to complete her mission. And on May 22, 2015, the prestigious journal Science published the first five great scientific results of the expedition. Since then, hundreds of researchers from prestigious institutions have analyzed the samples collected and multiplied the discoveries.
The boat Tara left Lorient on May 19, 2013 to return December 6 of the same year after having traveled 25 000 km.
An innovative label-free method to visualize living nanoparticles
Viruses
Phages
Extracellular vesicles
TECHNOLOGY
Based on the principles of interferometry, Myriade technology allows you to “see” nanoscale particles in the 35-200 nm range.
The observation takes place in 3 stages.
A solution containing the nanoparticles is placed in a 5 to 15 µL microdish lit by white light, while an optical system coupled to a camera records their movements.
The film obtained makes it possible to distinguish the nanoparticles that appear at the edge of the focal plane and that change color from black to white on either side of the axis.
Film obtained after treatment of polystyrene particles of 100 nm in diameter. The particles move under the effect of thermal agitation and change from white to black depending on their position in the sample.
A proprietary algorithm measures their size
by following their “Brownian” trajectories and their refractive index by analyzing the diffusion of their shadow.
This revolutionary process offers many advantages :
It is easy to use and does not require labelling. One can work on unpurified and small sample volume solutions (5-15 µL) with a concentration range of 106 to 108 particles / ml, and a size range of 35 to 200 nm. Finally, it offers the possibility of distinguishing particles according to two criteria: size and optical index.
Easy to use
Label free
No purification required
2 selection criteria
PUBLICATIONS
Full-field interferometry for counting and differentiating aquatic biotic nanoparticles : from laboratory to Tara Oceans, Martine Boccara, Yasmina Fedala, Catherine Venien Bryan, Marc Bailly-Bechet, Chris Bowler, and Albert Claude Boccara, Biomedical Optics Express Vol. 7, Issue 9, pp. 3736-3746 (2016)
Utilization of interferometric light microscopy for the rapid analysis of virus abundance in a river, Celine Roose-Amsaleg, Yasmina Fedala, Catherine Venien-Bryan, Josette Garnier, Albert-Claude Boccara, Martine Boccara, Research in Microbiology (2017)
SCIENTIFIC TEAM
Pr Martine Boccara
Virologist, professor at UPMC, former member of IBENS, researcher at the Museum of Natural History.
Pr Claude Boccara
French physicist, specialist in optics. He is Honorary Scientific Director of ESPCI and a member of the Scientific Council of the Langevin Institute.
APPLICATIONS
Titration of viruses
Control of viral bio-productions for the production of vaccines, vectors for immunotherapy and cell therapy
Titration of phages
Diagnosis of diseases related to microbiota such as asthma or Crohn’s disease.
Extracellular vesicle study
Counting and identification of extracellular vesicles secreted by different types of organisms.
Phagotherapy
Production control and efficiency monitoring.
