Biomass & Protein Engineering

Picto Biomasse et Ingénierie des Protéines plateformes IMM

IMM's Biomass & Protein Engineering platform, the only one of its kind in Europe, is a technology platform dedicated to the production of customized microorganisms, protein engineering and the biophysics of recalcitrant proteins. Our expertise is at the service of academics and industrial start-ups alike. We produce both wild-type and genetically modified bacteria and yeast. We also produce biomass under complex environmental conditions, in pure culture or in consortium, such as anaerobes, extremophiles and anammox bacteria. The specificity of the engineering platform is the cloning, expression, production and quality control of recalcitrant proteins (viral, multicentric redox...) for structural, enzymatic and biomolecular interaction characterization.
Scientific Direction: Dr Déborah Byrne-Kodjabachian and Dr Chantal Abergel.

Biomass team

Marielle Bauzan
Technical manager

Protein Engineering Team

Déborah BYRNE-KODJABACHIAN
Technical manager

Yasmina Bouzariouh
Doctoral student

Amouric Agnès plateforme Biomasse et Ingénierie des protéines - IMM

Agnès Amouric
Technical Manager

Aymes Arnaud plateforme Biomasse et Ingénierie des protéines

Arnaud Aymes
Instructional Designer AMU/IM2B

Contact the platform

Areas of expertise of the
Biomass & Protein Engineering platform

Fermentation

Interaction
biomolecular

Purification

Areas of expertise of the
Biomass & Protein Engineering platform

Fermentation

Purification

Interaction
biomolecular

Services offered by the
Biomass & Protein Engineering platform

Research & development

- Optimization of biomass and/or protein yields
- Metabolic studies
- Protein engineering with the incorporation of non-natural amino acids
- Purification of recalcitrant proteins
- Quality control analysis of liposomes and proteins
- Biomolecular interaction, protein, carbohydrate, DNA, peptide, lipid

Service provision

- Custom bacterial biomass production
- Protein purification
- Interaction, BLI, ITC, MST
- Dynamic Light Scattering, QC
- Viscosity and density studies

Consulting & training

- Hosting and training BTS to PhD
- Hosting start-up engineers
- Support and advice for new projects
- Design and development of training courses and practical work
- Educational tutorials
- Training in the use of stand-alone equipment.

  • Biomass harvesting
  • Sorvall contifuge continuous flow centrifuge
  • 800L Cisa autoclave
  • Culture of Anammox bacteria
  • AKTA PURE
  • Sartorius Biostat C30 bioreactor
  • BLI
  • DLS
  • Sartorius Biostat C30
  • Microcal PEAQ ITC

The Biomass & Protein Engineering platform
in videos

Biomass production :

Protein production :

Molecular interaction :

Featured publications

2025

Subtle Variations in a Client Protein Determine Bacterial Hsp90 Dependence. J Mol Biol. 2025 Nov 1;437(21):169378. doi: 10.1016/j.jmb.2025.169378. Epub 2025 Aug 7. PMID: 40782956.

Corteggiani M, Ali Chaouche A, Bahun M, Honoré FA, Byrne D, Dementin S, Rebeaud ME, Genest O.

2024

Structural insights into the semiquinone form of human Cytochrome P450 reductase by DEER distance measurements between a native flavin and a spin labelled non-canonical amino acid. Chemistry–A European Journal, e202304307.

Bizet, M., Byrne, D., Biaso, F., Gerbaud, G., Etienne, E., Briola, G., ... & Martinho, M.

2023

Evidence for [2Fe-2S] 2+ and Linear [3Fe-4S] 1+ Clusters in a Unique Family of Glycine/Cysteine-Rich Fe-S Proteins from Megavirinae Giant Viruses. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 145(5), 2733-2738.DOI

Villalta, A., Srour, B., Lartigue, A., Clémancey, M., Byrne, D., Chaspoul, F., ... & Burlat, B.

2023

Carbon fixation in the chemolithoautotrophic bacterium aquifex aeolicus involves two low-potential ferredoxins as partners of the PFOR and OGOR enzymes. Life, 13(3), 627.

Prioretti, L., D’Ermo, G., Infossi, P., Kpebe, A., Lebrun, R., Bauzan, M., ... & Guiral, M.

All our publications

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Do you have a question about IMM's Biomass & Engineering platform? If you have any questions about our services or training courses, please contact our team.

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