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THE OPTOBOTS START-UP FROM ISIR SELECTED FOR THE RISE PROGRAM

Category: Research

Source : CNRS – INS2I

The CNRS RISE program, managed by CNRS Innovation, selects start-up projects from CNRS laboratories and its partners twice a year. It then supports them from the idea to the structuring, to the creation and the first financing phases. Optobots, a project from ISIR (CNRS/Sorbonne University), was selected in the last wave.

Resulting from the research work of Sinan Haliyo, lecturer at Sorbonne University, member of ISIR, and Edison Gerena, post-doctoral fellow at ISIR (both co-founders of the start-up), the Optobots project proposes a new tool for single-cell manipulation, in particular of gametes for in vitro fertilization (IVF). It is also supported by the CNRS premature program (2022-2024) through the project “Pinces Optiques Interactives pour la Biologie” (BIOPTIQ).

At a time when, according to the WHO, 15% of couples suffer from fertility problems and more than 8 million children have been born thanks to IVF, Optobots proposes an innovative and patented technology for the automation and assistance of complete IVF cycles, the techniques of which have evolved little since the first one 30 years ago. Thanks to mobile microrobots remotely activated by lasers, this technology allows to manipulate biological samples in solution. It avoids phototoxicity, is adapted to confined environments such as lab-on-a-chip and considerably increases dexterity compared to mechanical micromanipulation. The objective is to reduce human error and variability of results by optimizing the handling time required for a cycle.


Contacts: Sinan Haliyo, lecturer at Sorbonne University and Edison Gerena, post-doctoral fellow at ISIR.