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VIRHAE project is dedicated to developing new in vitro pathophysiological models to better understand the mechanisms of viral exacerbation in asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

These advanced models will serve as a platform for the accelerated preclinical evaluation of innovative preventive and therapeutic treatments, providing an alternative to animal experimentation.
Funded by the Région Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and accredited by Lyonbiopôle Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, VIRHAE is led by Epithelix, in partnership with Rheonova, a specialist in rheology, and the international research laboratory RESPIVIR.

The PANVIPREP consortium incorporates 14 European partners with complementary expertise in virology, structural biology, medicinal chemistry, pharmacology, and machine-learning approaches. Together, they aim to contribute to antiviral pandemic preparedness by piloting and progressing antiviral drug development, in particular through

•     developing and advancing broad(er)-spectrum antiviral compounds targeting five selected RNA virus families with high epidemic or pandemic potential;
•     delivering novel RNA virus knowledge and tools, including molecules that block novel molecular targets in the viral replication cycle;
•     implementing technological innovations to accelerate antiviral drug discovery and development.

The MACRAMÉ Project is fully aligned with the EU ambitions to secure the safety and sustainability of new chemicals, materials, products and processes in order to strive for zero pollution and toxic-free environments, as addressed in the EU’s Chemical Strategy for Sustainability (2020), and in the European Green Deal (2019 & 2021); in doing so, the Project concentrates on methodologies that are applicable to nanomaterials, and widens them to ‘Advanced Materials’ (AdMas) ⎼ a material category that includes but surpasses that of ‘nanomaterials’ (EU, ‘Definition of a Nanomaterial’) – in commercialised products and that are aligned with the future-oriented innovation, safety and sustainability considerations of the OECD (OECD (2020)), the EU (EU (2022)), and several of its Member States (e.g. Germany (2021)).

This will be achieved through development and demonstration of novel methodologies, and by advancing their harmonisation & standardisation on three MACRAMÉ Material Families of inhalable carbon-based AdMas of various morphologies and dimensions (Tiwari et al. (2012)), beyond spherical particles: (a) graphene-related material (GRM), (b) carbon nanofibres (CNFs), e.g., carbon nanotubes (CNTs), and (c) Poly Lactic-co-Glycolic Acid (nano)particles (PLGA). The focus on carbon-based AdMas addresses unsolved detection and characterisation issues, especially in complex media. In doing so, MACRAMÉ builds on >15 years of research and innovation (R&I) and knowledge pooling in nanosafety, formed through numerous European and international collaborations. MACRAMÉ will add value to the results of collaborations, such as the Malta-Initiative, and the Graphene Flagship Validation Service and Standardisation Committee, to proactively support EU industries in becoming world-leaders in clean technologies and products and achieving the Green Deal’s ambitious timeline.

Epithelix is partner of the FAIR consortium.
FAIR is an EU Horizon 2020 project that aims at evaluating the activation of the innate immune system in the airways. FAIR aims at providing an alternative adjunct strategy to standard of care antibiotics for treating pneumonia caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

Epithelix is partner of the Onconanoscreen consortium.
Onconanoscreen is an interreg project linking Swiss and French research groups.
Onconanoscreen's mission is to develop an in vitro platform to screen nanotherapies against lung cancer.

The goal of "La ligue suisse contre la vivisection" is to fight, with all the possible legal means, against the practice of vivisection such as the use of animals for medical, scientific, military, industrial or commercial purposes, until the total abolition of such practices. It recognizes and financially helps the creation and development of alternative methods to animal testing.

Pro Anima is an apolitical and independent scientific board dedicated to develop human biomedical research by promoting alternatives to animal experimentation. Pro Anima has been active for more than 25 years using all the possible tools to raise awareness about animal testing and existing alternatives: social networks, stands, poster campaign petitions, medias, among other initiatives.

Vitrocell systems offers customers from industry and research institutes new culture and exposure systems for in vitro studies on gases or complex mixtures. The VITROCELL modules adapted to MucilAir™ and SmallAir™ provide new possibilities for characterizing the effects of airborne substances such as gas, nanoparticles and complex mixtures.

ATRA is a Swiss association founded in 1978 in Lugano.

Its goal is to fight, with all the possible legal means, against the practice of vivisection such as the use of animals for medical, scientific, military, industrial or commercial purposes, until the total abolition of such practices. It recognizes and financially helps the creation and development of alternative methods to animal testing.

VirNext is a spin-off (EZUS Lyon) of Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (UCBL1) created within the VirPath laboratory.

Epithelix partners with VirNext to provide in vitro testing for SARS-CoV-2 infection using BSL-3 facility.