In the peculiar case of Biochemikon, we use our 25-years expertise in oxidative stress, OXPHOS and cell metabolism. Performing research in the field of cellular metabolism, we have soon discovered that a tiny variation in one of its important pathways may lead to important modifications in whole cell behavior by breaking the slight equilibrium between all that metabolic routes. An important consequence we noticed is that most of cell dysfunctions rely on very small variations of one or several primary or secondary metabolisms but not on larger ones. Unfortunately, at the end of the nineties, measurement techniques were roughly quantifying variations, far lacking precision. Moreover, because of the need to use different techniques to measure different markers, it was not possible to measure all parameters in parallel but successively, hereby generating an unavoidable degradation of the starting material. Thus, for all that reasons, it sounds to us strongly mandatory to develop new very precise multi-parametric means to be able to assess small metabolic variations in the shortest turnaround time.

Diverting the classical equipment daily used in routine clinical biology laboratories, we achieve our’s end by developing new accurate and robust methods that allow us to measure in parallel with the highest precision a large number of parameters, in a few minutes without any degradation of the starting material. As it is also possible to measure protein (or hemoglobin or DNA…) content in the same sample, we can not only quantify but also compare the different results between us. Therefore, it becomes possible to us to unambiguously define enzyme activities ratios, substrates ratios… that allow a true comparison of cell metabolism pathways function at a precise moment. Such equipment is very expensive, unaffordable for most of our colleagues and necessitate a long training and expertise to be correctly used.

To give as many researchers as possible the opportunity to get such result quality, and to gain a deep insight into cell metabolism, we planned to launch a new company that will offer access to such a platform. We are now pleased to offer our services and expertise to the R&D community.