Companies and Campus: when research and industry innovate together
When the academic research world and cutting-edge companies connect, it allows for the promotion of skills and beneficial collective emulation. The Companies and Campus call for projects contributes fully to this dynamic of innovation, as demonstrated by the REGENamel project. Led by two research organizations at the University of Montpellier and the Toulouse-based pharmaceutical and dermo-cosmetics group Pierre Fabre, it is one of the winners of the 2022 Montpellier promotion.
Collaboration between a research laboratory and the socio-economic world always begins with a first step. An initial connection. In fact, when a company contacts a university, it is often because it is facing a difficult technological challenge. This was the case for the REGENamel project, one of the winners of the call for projects Companies and Campus 2022 call for projects. Hélène Van Den Berghe, a lecturer and researcher at the Max Mousseron Biomolecules Institute (IBMM) within the Polymers for Health and Biomaterials ( PHBM) team, who specializes in medical devices and macromolecular engineering, explains how it all began.
"In 2021, one of our former master's students, who was working at Pierre Fabre, came to us with a problem concerning the group's Oral Care division, which specializes in oral and dental hygiene," recalls the teacher-researcher. " They wanted to try to develop new innovative formulations, particularly for dental remineralization."There was one major challenge: the need to meet the requirements of the Ecocert label, the benchmark for organic and environmental certification, which imposes strict specifications, including the requirement for Pierre Fabre to use natural products in its formulations.
Encouraging initial results
It turns out that the Polymers for Health and Biomaterials team is primarily interested in "polymers."1 that are essentially biodegradable and intended for medical applications in the body, including polymer matrices that can be used in everything from toothpaste." Hélène Van Den Berghe, who works on polymers and natural ingredients, and Xavier Garric, who heads the team, call on a third person: Christophe Hirtz, head of the clinical proteomics platform (CHU-UM). The latter brings to the project his technical expertise in protein analysis, particularly with regard to saliva and the oral sphere.
Each contributes its know-how, skills, and laboratory expertise at the request of an industrial partner who, for its part, masters the art of galenic formulation, i.e., the combination of ingredients to produce the final preparation. This is no ordinary industrial partner, but a pharmaceutical and dermo-cosmetics giant based in the Tarn region of France and operating in 43 countries, with several research centers located on the outskirts of Toulouse. "In June 2021, we began discussions withHélène Duplan, Pierre Fabre's project manager. Aninitial collaboration, in the form of a student internship from February to July 2022, yielded encouraging results, enabling us to answer a number of questions about the feasibility of the project," explains Hélène Van Den Berghe.
A thesis on dental remineralization
In agreement with the Pierre Fabre Group, a CIFRE thesis application was submitted to the French National Agency for Research and Technology (ANRT). "The Innovation and Partnerships Department (DIPA) supported and assisted us in negotiating and setting up the thesis contract. " In March 2023, Laura Chanard was recruited to prepare a thesis entitled "Development and characterization of innovative solutions for dental remineralization."
Thanks to €34,000 in funding from Companies on Campus, the team has purchased a rheometer. This is "laboratory equipment used to analyze formulations, particularly in terms of their mechanical properties." What is the timeline for the REGENamel project? Everything will depend on the progress of the research at the end of the thesis defense and how Pierre Fabre integrates the resulting innovations into its product portfolio. In the meantime, everyone will have gained in skills, collective intelligence... and competitiveness.
Companies and Campus: the university of innovation
Launched in 2018 as part of the MUSE initiative, Montpellier University of Excellence, the Companies and Campus call for projects is designed to facilitate cooperation between the socio-economic world and research structures. Intended to contribute to the innovation process while acting as a lever for public-private cooperation, the call for projects combines research collaboration with the hosting of employees within research institutions, bringing them into close contact with researchers and students. Companies and Campus winners can receive funding of up to €50,000.
- Polymers are macromolecules (small molecules that link together to form a very large molecule) found throughout the human body (in proteins and DNA, for example) and in many everyday materials such as polyester, PVC, and polyurethane. ↩︎