ImpedanCELL (SF4206 – ICORE)

Platform certified at national level by the GIS IBiSA

Contacts

The team

• Director: Dr Christophe Denoyelle

To satisfy user needs, the platform relies on the expertise and know-how of the following professionals:

• Dr Christophe Denoyelle, director of the platform and scientific manager on the Baclesse site
• Dr Stéphane Pronost, deputy director of the LABÉO research hub and scientific manager on the LABÉO site
• Dr Emilie Brotin, platform research engineer and technical manager on the Baclesse site
• Dr Erika Hue, research engineer and technical engineer on the LABÉO site
• Christine Fortier, technical manager of the Normandie Equine Vallée platform (Saint-Contest site) and quality controller for the LABÉO site research hub
• Dr Laurent Poulain, Deputy Director of the UMR Inserm 1086 Anticipe research unit and in charge of the BioTICLA laboratory
• Dr Romain Paillot, in charge of the equine health theme at the LABÉO research hub

Activities

ImpedanCELL is an inovative and original platform proposing services to any user with needs for the study of behavioural dynamics in cell populations in real time, including high-throughout analysis. ImpedanCELL is open to local and national collaborations and services, be they with academic or industrial partners, and proposes training for users of impedance measurement systems (xCELLigence technology) and real-time cellular imaging systems (IncuCyte S3).

Created in 2012, the ImpedanCELL platform for real-time high-throughput cellular activity measurement was integrated within the technical platforms that comprise the Caen University ICORE 4206 federative structure (cell, organism, environment interactions). It is pre-certified by the IGIS IBiSA (infrastructures in biology health and agronomy) since 1 January 2019.

It is divided over two technical sites:

• the CLCC François Baclesse Comprehensive Cancer Centre for all non-infectious applications
• LABÉO for all virology and bacteriology applications (confined L2 room)

On the Baclesse site, it is hosted in a specific room in the research building, within the BioTICLA laboratory (biology and innovative therapies in ovarian cancers) which is one of the Inserm 1086 Anticipe (interdisciplinary research unit for cancer prevention and treatment) mixed research unit’s two research themes.

On the LABÉO site, it is hosted on the Normandie Equine Vallée (Saint Contest site) platform which welcomes LABÉO researchers, and the Caen University BIOTARGEN (biology, genetics and osteo-articular and respiratory therapies – EA7450) (EA7450) team.

The panel of the most developed applications enables the study of adhesion, proliferation, viability, cytotoxicity and differentiation, together with the study of cellular morphology and functional analysis of receptors (GPCR, RTK) via direct applications in a number of fields such as oncology, neuroscience, immunology, toxicology, bacteriology, virology and marine biology.

Technical resources

The ImpedanCELL platform enables the study of cellular activity in real time via two high-throughput technologies, impedance measurement (xCELLigence) and cellular imaging (IncuCyte S3).

Thanks to support from the Centre François Baclesse, LABÉO, the University of Caen, Normandy, the Normandy Regional Council, the French State and European ERDF funds, the platform is endowed with high-performance equipment (two xCELLigence MP systems, each with six 96-well plates and an xCELLigence DP system with three 16-well plates) enabling the study of adhesion, proliferation, cell death, migration, invasion, etc. Different applications in a variety of fields such as oncology, neuroscience, immunology and marine biology are possible.

A third xCELLigence MP system with six 96-well plates is available on the LABÉO site, within an L2 type confined laboratory for microbiology experiments.

In 2017 and 2019, the platform was endowed with three real-time cellular imaging systems (IncuCyte S3) divided over the two sites. This equipment automates image acquisition and analysis in long-term kinetic experiments (visible and fluorescence), and enables the simultaneous study of six 96-well plates direct from the incubator.

The ImpedanCELL platform is open to collaborations and local or national service provision for academic and industrial partners. It is involved in training activities within the Caen University Technical Institute (IUT) and the Faculty of Health and Science, thanks to a mobile iCELLigence system that can be used outside the platform. It also proposes practical training for impedance measurement and cellular imaging system users, and conducts all or part of analysis on a service provision basis, based on user requirements and demands.

Major publications

1. Florent R, Weiswald LB, Lambert B, Brotin E, Abeilard E, Louis MH, Babin G, Poulain L, N’Diaye M. Bim, Puma and Noxa upregulation by Naftopidil sensitizes ovarian cancer to the BH3-mimetic ABT-737 and the MEK inhibitor Trametinib. Cell Death Dis. 2020 May 18;11(5):380. PMID: 32424251.
2. Vernon M, Lambert B, Meryet-Figuière M, Brotin E, Weiswald LB, Paysant H, Vigneron N, Wambecke A, Abeilard E, Giffard F, Louis MH, Blanc-Fournier C, Gauduchon P, Poulain L, Denoyelle C. Functional miRNA screening identifies wide-ranging antitumor properties of miR-3622b-5p and reveals a new therapeutic combination strategy in ovarian tumor organoids. Mol Cancer Ther. 2020 May 5: molcanther.0510.2019. PMID: 32371581.
3. Lepleux C, Marie-Brasset A, Temelie M, Boulanger M, Brotin E, Goldring MB, Hirtz C, Varès G, Nakajima T, Saintigny Y, Savu D, Chevalier F. Bystander effectors of chondrosarcoma cells irradiated at different LET impair proliferation of chondrocytes. J Cell Commun Signal. 2019 Sep;13(3):343-356. PMID: 30903603.
4. Thieulent CJ, Hue ES, Fortier CI, Dallemagne P, Zientara S, Munier-Lehmann H, Hans A, Fortier GD, Pitel PH, Vidalain PO, Pronost SL. Screening and evaluation of antiviral compounds against Equid alpha-herpesviruses using an impedance-based cellular assay. Virology. 2019 Jan 2;526:105-116. PMID: 30388626.
5. Hedir S, De Giorgi M, Fogha J, De Pascale M, Weiswald LB, Brotin E, Marekha B, Denoyelle C, Denis C, Suzanne P, Gautier F, Juin P, Ligat L, Lopez F, Carlier L, Legay R, Bureau R, Rault S, Poulain L, Oliveira Santos JS, Voisin-Chiret AS. Structure-guided design of pyridoclax derivatives based on Noxa / Mcl-1 interaction mode. Eur J Med Chem. 2018 Nov 5;159:357-380. PMID: 30308410.
6. Sauvage F, Fattal E, Al-Shaer W, Denis S, Brotin E, Denoyelle C, Blanc-Fournier C, Toussaint B, Messaoudi S, Alami M, Barratt G, Vergnaud-Gauduchon J. Antitumor activity of nanoliposomes encapsulating the novobiocin analog 6BrCaQ in a triple-negative breast cancer model in mice. Cancer Lett. 2018 Sep 28;432:103-111. PMID: 29883750.

Partners

At regional level:

• Academic research teams (CEA, CNRS, EA, IFREMER, Inserm) from the Caen University 4206 ICORE federative structure and from Rouen, together with industrial partners.

At national level:

• Academic research teams (Cergy-Pontoise, Chatenay Malabry, Grenoble, Nantes, Paris, Toulouse, Rennes) and industrial partners.

At international level:

• Academic research teams (Argentina, Great Britain)