Lifesearch SAS

Projects at Lifesearch

Cardiovascular Disease Cholesterol
Leading cause of death in industrialized countries, cardiovascular diseases are annually responsible for 17.5 million deaths worldwide and thus become a real public health problem.

The fight against cardiovascular disease is associated with the fight against high cholesterol. Cholesterol is an essential lipid in eukaryotes that modulates membrane fluidity and initiates the synthesis of several products such as steroid hormones, vitamin D and bile acids. Dysregulation of cholesterol homeostasis often results in an accumulation of cholesterol in the body, resulting in a significant impact on the development of cardiovascular disease, leading cause of death in industrialized countries.

One strategy of Lifesearch is to focus its research on HDL-therapy. In this area of prevention, not satisfied today, many scientifics and technical progresses are expected.

Mitochondrial and rare diseases
Mitochondrial diseases are rare diseases that are inherited disorders caused by dysfunction of mitochondrial energy metabolism. They are very heterogeneous in terms of their genetic origin and their phenotypic expression. 

The clinical presentation of mitochondrial diseases is primarily neuromuscular and sensorineural but most major physiological functions may be affected and worsen over time. These disorders can start at any age, peaks appeared, but they are mainly observed in the neonatal period, childhood and early adulthood.

On the pathophysiology of these diseases are often due to a defect in the mitochondrial respiratory chain which provides the coupling between oxidation of nutrients and the phosphorylation of ADP to ATP.

The mitochondrion is an organelle indispensable and essential to the functioning of the eukaryotic cell (animal and plant) because it is involved in most cellular processes such as sugar metabolism, respiration, biosynthesis of vitamins, or cell death. Also instead of calcium storage and specific reagents for oxygen, it plays a role in cell signaling pathways.The absence of these components has implications for the viability of cells and can for example lead to the formation of cancerous tumors. Among the shortcomings that exist include those affecting the mitochondrial respiratory chain.

Nanoarchitecture for biology

The interaction surfaces-aggregates has attracted the interest of many research groups, both in the interest of the fundamental processes involved, as by possible industrial developments (nanoelectronics, heterogeneous catalysis, cosmetics, films, hygiene and sanitation ...).
We try to develop new architectures controlled at the nanoscale to develop nanomaterial with antibacterial properties and to reduce the potential toxicity of nanoparticles increasing their stability and minimize volatility.

Molecular motors are very important in biology because they are involved in many cell processes. We contribute to the understanding of the molecular-machines in the hope to reproduce them in nanomotors for several applications in the future.