On June 25, 2015, the Microbiota Research Center of Biostime Institute of Nutrition and Care (BINC), taking the opportunity of the initiation of Biostime Research and Development and Quality Control Center, was formally put into operation. Chen Jianhua, vice president of the Municipal Party Committee of Guangzhou, and mayor of Guangzhou, Gerard Collomb, the mayor of Lyon in France, and the delegation of Lyon municipal government presented the activity.

Inauguration ceremony of the center

(From the left are Jean Baptiste Gay, the senior vice president of the operating and quality department of Merieux Nutri Sciences Group, Bertr and Furno, the French director general stationed in Guangzhou, Gérard Collomb, the mayor of Lyon, Chen Jianhua, the mayor of Guanghzou, Luo Fei, executiveoperator of Biostime, Patrice Malard, general manager of Biostime Technical Center)

Microbiota Research Center put into operation

Mr. Patrice Malard, the general manager of Biostime Technical Center, pointed out in the opening ceremony that BINC Microbiota Research Center was established under the agreement of technical transfer strategic cooperation between Biostime and Biofortis. As a leading professional microbiota research platform in China, the center is equipped with advanced equipment and has adopted up-to-date research techniques and management modelsused in the world.

Guests visiting the BINC microbiota research center

Studies over the past years have indicated that human’s intestine system serves not only as the digestion center, but also as an organ closely associated with the immune system and the brain. By metagenomics technology, BINC Microbiota research center will achieve the objective to determine the intestinal micro-ecological status for each of the infants and pregnant women via stool analysis, and to design individualized health solutions based on the intestinal micro-ecological conditions of individuals. This will usher a new era for the development of intestinal microbiota research.

Early on September 30, 2014, Biostime and Biofortis, a subsidiary of Merieux NutriSciences Group, signed a technology transfer agreement involving with microbiota research. Today, the application of the platform reflects a deepening cooperation between the two parties.

As shown by some data, Merieux NutriSciences Group is a global leading provider focusing on food nutrition research services. With over 46 years of experience in cooperating with numerous leading food companies across the world, the group has established over 70 laboratories in 18 countries, aswell as 5 R&D centers in America, France, Brazil and China.

The president of Merieux NutriSciences Group argued that this highly efficient technical platform for micro-ecological metagenomics studies would link BINC to the cutting-edge technologies worldwide in every related field, thus laying a solid foundation for research and development activities in the future.

Guests visiting the laboratories in R&D and Quality Control Center

Experts visited the central laboratory

After the inauguration of the ceremony, an orientation tour of the R&D and Quality Control Center was arranged for the leaders and experts from the governments and scientific research institutions including Teagasc, Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing Friendship Hospital, Beijing Research Institute for Nutritional Resources, Guangdong Entry-exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau, Guangdong Institute of Microbiology, Shenzhen Entry-exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau, Sun Yat-senUniversity, Southern Medical University, etc. The guests agreed that the laboratory development planning and highly modernized facilities in the center were very impressive, and the advanced facilities as well as the well-organized and refined management system in the BINC Microbiota Research Center were particularly astonishing, which reflected the huge investment and great efforts made by the institute on scientific research. The experts from many universities also showed strong willingness to establish cooperative relationship with the center. They indicated that Biostime was expected to develop more breakthroughs in relevant research fields by making full use of the advanced laboratory systems so as to make more great contributions to the industry involving with maternal and child health.

The new R&D and Quality Control Center

Mr. Patrice Malard, the general manager of Biostime technology center, introduced that Biostime R&D and Quality Control Center was established in 2014, and the laboratories were designed and furnished according to the international standard. To date, the investment put into stage one construction has exceeded 40 million yuan. The center structurally consists of two parts--research and development center and quality control center, with a total area of over 3000 m². The new R&D and Quality Control Center will become an important technical platform for Biostime to develop innovative R&D projects and improve the quality of products, and also serve as one of BINC’s research platform, which is able to greatly promote the cooperation between BINC and domestic scientific institutions.