The "Centre de Technologies Moléculaires Appliquées (CTMA - Center for Applied Molecular Technologies)" is a mixed clinical-military biotechnological platform mutualizing the resources of two partners:
- UCLouvain/IREC (Université catholique de Louvain/Institut de Recherche Expérimentale et Clinique). CTMA is the IREC-reference biotechnological platform (genetics and molecular genetics); therefore directly supporting IREC-related research activities and teams. CTMA actively develops its own proprietary research in the field of technology and security, following the Russian dolls strategy, which integrates research applied sciences activitues at Belgian regional and federal European and international level.
- Cliniques Universitaires Saint-Luc (CUSL) CTMA carries out clinical research in the field of genetics and molecular genetics to support the medical activity of the academic hospital CUSL.
- CTMA is also conducting research to better control the biological risks related to the CBRN (Chemical, Bacteriological, Radiological and Nuclear threats spectrum).
B-LIFE has demonstrated its operational field diagnostic testing capacitues during a successful deployment in Guinea to fight the Ebola epidemics (2014-2015). Since then, B-LIFE became a certified service within the EU Civil Protection mechanism. During the on-going COVID-19 pandemics B-LIFE was deployed in the Piemonte Region (Italy) to perform mass testing of first responders according to the smart testing strategy.
BE-NGO is now in place to deploy and operate the B-LIFE system on request of authorities like WHO and EC.
- Inside its CTMA-Myco premises, CTMA is actively developing service activity for industry by producing fungal biomass for the preparation of vaccines.
Our Missions
- Service activities: CTMA offers expertise and technological support to UCLouvain researchers and more particularly to IREC-researchers. CTMA-Myco has actively developed service activity for industry such as the fungal biomass production for the preparation of vaccines.
- Dual military-civilian R&D activities: New emerging technologies, including nanotechnologies and operational tools enabling better detection and protection against known and unknown threatening infectious agents; Low/high density gene expression profiling (biomarkers in malignant and inflammatory diseases); Genome characterization by re-sequencing. Related signal processing, machine learning and biostatistical analysis.
- Related expertise in Security: study of Belgian and European preparedness and responses to B-threats of the CBRN (Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Threats) spectrum.
- Clinical activities: Diagnostic applications and operational deliverables (infectious and genetic diseases, pharmacogenomics & new biomarkers, array, pyro-sequencing, quantitative real-time PCR…). Several tests are performed for the benefit of patients at the CUSL;
- Academic courses in Molecular Biology, Genetics, in Statistical Genetics & Multivariate Data Analysis and CBRN topics and Training to operate mobileb bio-laboratory units.