After graduating in 2023 with a double engineering degree in Biological Engineering and Biomedical Engineering, Agathe worked as a research associate and lecturer for a year, in order to define her PhD project in parallel. Her goal? To conduct research into the development of medical devices and their clinical application. She applied to a CIFRE contract as part of an industrial collaboration between ALPhANOV (Centre technologique Optique & Lasers) and the BioTis laboratory (Bioingénierie Tissulaire, Inserm U1026), and she began her research in September 2024 on the following subject: “Cochlear-gene therapy by laser-assisted microperforation and bioprinting in situ”.
Laser-assisted bioprinting: an innovative solution for gene therapy
The project started in 2020 with the financial support of the SATT Aquitaine Science Transfert and aims at studying this approach to the delivery of gene therapy to the inner ear of the mouse. Agathe's research is based on these results: "Since September 2024, we have defined the priority points for the development of the device. My thesis will aim to optimize this hearing loss treatment process with a view to pre-clinical validation".
Agathe has been conducting her research at the BioTis laboratory and the ALPhANOV technological center where she has been contributing to the development of the laser device prototype. An innovative approach which presents several advantages, as Agathe explains: "The laser, characterized by a succession of very short, highly focused light pulses, projects the therapeutic agent onto the target with very high precision and speed, delivering it to the desired location, all without contact. Light energy is actually transformed into mechanical energy to achieve the desired ink projection... In the context of an application for targeted drug delivery, this is highly innovative."
A project awarded in the latest UBooster contest
This approach aims at developping a future medical device designed to treat deafness, tinnitus and hearing loss, paving the way for new tratments for millions of people affected by hearing disorders. And Agathe presented this medical device, now named LAMInEar, at the latest edition of the UBooster competition. "We defined the name this year, as part of our aim to highlight the project." And it's a successful first step: the jury awarded the first prize and the "coup de coeur" prize to Agathe for LAMInEar.
"Thanks to the student entrepreneur status and my tutor, Bastien Buoro, who is in charge of support at Ubee Lab, I learnt about this contest. I first defined a business model, then worked on the pitch... It was the first time I had presented the project in this way. These two prizes represent substantial added value in the long term and will be very useful after my PhD, particularly for a transfer to a start-up."
Both the UBooster contest and the student entrepreneur status have enabled Agathe to discover the world of entrepreneurship, learn about it and start building a network: "I chose to take part in the contest to highlight my project, but also to discover those of other participants. When you're a PhD student, you're often very focused on your research, and this type of contest allows you to take a step back. It's a way to better understand what's at stake in your project, to learn how to promote it and to get an outside view of the impact of your work. This approach has also enabled me to learn about topics related to entrepreneurship (recruitment, management, finance, etc.), which is very enriching for my project. I hope to continue discovering this environment and working in healthcare innovation."