A New Research Platform for Lesaffre

Lesaffre has inaugurated a new research platform dedicated to in vitro investigations, near Lille, France.

The new In Vitro platform will enable Lesaffre to validate the effectiveness of its existing and future products, develop new solutions and strengthen even more its scientific and technical know-how, the company says.

The In Vitro platform, based in the Eurasanté park (Loos, France), reflects Lesaffre’s commitment to highlight the full potential of microorganisms and fermentation for the nutrition and health of tomorrow. It completes two Lesaffre research platforms already present in the Eurasanté park, one platform dedicated to bacteria and the other one to purification and molecules extraction.

To equip the In Vitro platform with the most modern technologies, Lesaffre signed a partnership with the Dutch company Triskelion. The core of the collaboration – the so-called TIM-1 system, is a dynamic in vitro model of the stomach and small intestine developed by Triskelion. With this system, capable of mimicking gastrointestinal processes, Lesaffre teams have now the opportunity to study the ability of Lesaffre products to survive and be active in the intestine or to improve nutrient digestibility.

Indeed, with its 1,000 billion bacteria, the intestinal microbiota plays a crucial role in the digestive functions of living beings and has considerable consequences on nutrition and health. But the bacteria in the microbiota live in an extreme environment, without air, and therefore difficult to study. “With this collaboration, we are proud to combine leading technology platforms, such as TIM, with our scientific knowledge on microorganisms and ingredients derived from fermentation. This combination will contribute to enhance Lesaffre scientific expertise and accelerate the development of health benefit products for the future, such as probiotics, and thus in a sustainable way,” says Carmen Arruda, R&D director at Lesaffre.