IAGE sets up at Biopôle office center for life sciences

Information updated on 14/12/20

Specialized in environmental biological diagnostics, the startup was looking to expand its facilities to handle its growing business activity, in part boosted by the COVID-19 health crisis.

L'équipe de IAGE @pierre-bruynooghe — IAGE team @pierre-bruynooghe

The company IAGE (which stands for Engineering and Analysis for Genome Editing) moved to its new location at the Cap Gamma office center, one of three buildings comprising Biopôle Euromédecine, a science park for startups in the life sciences sector, particularly in the medical field. The site is located just north of Montpellier in Grabels.

“We needed space that was more adapted to our needs, and large enough to enable us to handle our growing business activity,” explains Franz Durandet, the company’s CEO.

Previously hosted by Cirad at its Lavalette Campus, also just north of Montpellier, IAGE chose to relocate to the Biopôle zone after receiving assistance by the Montpellier Métropole Business Establishment Department.

“The process was quite fast. Right away, the Montpellier Métropole Business Establishment team offered us facilities that met our criteria exactly. Montpellier Métropole’s property management partner SERM enabled us to make the final adaptations we needed for our workspace to be optimal,” he says, adding that emulation is certainly one of the benefits of the new location: “Located at Biopôle Euromédecine, we will be much closer to other companies likely to become partners or recommenders.”

Environmental diagnostics: a promising market

Founded in 2017 and incubated by the Agro | Montpellier SupAgro institute, IAGE has seen its business grow significantly since March 2020. Specialized in environmental biological analyses, the company has developed a method based on Digital PCR technology from the medical sector that very reliably quantifies – with accuracy on the order of 99% – the presence of biological organisms, such as viruses and bacteria in a sample, by detecting their RNA or genome.

Founded by five partners, most of whom have backgrounds in academic research, the startup offers clients its expertise as a Phytocontrol analysis laboratory. By analyzing wastewater, IAGE technology enables early detection and evolution tracking for clusters that are going to form in a given area: virus RNA is identifiable in human stool, well before any symptoms appear.

“Starting in late June, we could already see the arrival of the second wave of the COVID-19 crisis,” adds Franz Durandet, whose company now has a staff of seven people.

And that’s just the start. We wish IAGE a warm welcome and continued success at Biopôle Euromédecine!

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Specialized in environmental biological diagnostics, the startup was looking to expand its facilities to handle its growing business activity, in part boosted by the COVID-19 health crisis.

Environmental diagnostics: a promising market

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