Title: BIOMEBA: the first biological biocide for water treatment actually under regulatory assessment
Learner Objectives:
Our objective is to present the first biological biocide for water treatment.
Content/Topic Outline:
* Biological control of Legionella
* Proof of concept in cooling towers
* Potential to reduce chemical release in the environment
Presenter:
Sandrine DEMANECHE, AMOEBA CSO
Fabrice PLASSON, AMOEBA CEO
Presentation Description:
Legionella species have been recovered from a wide variety of natural water ecosystems and man-made water systems such as cooling towers and are responsible for Legionellosis disease. Protist like Amoebas are natural regulator of bacterial population thanks to a natural process named phagocytosis. However, some bacteria, like Legionella pneumophila, are sometime able to resist amoebas and can use amoeba organelles to multiply. An amoeba named Willaertia magna C2c Maky, isolated from natural thermal waters, was found to be effective in killing bacteria, including Legionella pneumophila, by phagocytosis. W. magna C2c Maky has been proven to be a non-toxic and non-pathogenic organism which can be used as a non-chemical treatment in cooling tower systems for the control of waterborne bacteria in water and slime phases.
The study will show the panel of Legionella that are not able to multiply inside Willaertia magna C2c Maky. A discussion including results obtained in industrial trials will show that this new disruptive biopesticide treatment for cooling towers could not only be a safer solution for workers, but also eliminate the impact of traditional release of hazardous chemical biocides in the environment.
Presenter Bio:
Fabrice PLASSON has more than18 years' experience in the field of life sciences and biotechnology. Before starting Amoéba, he was General Manager and founder of the French subsidiary of DiscoveRx, where he was responsible for sales in Southern Europe. His experience at DiscoveRx gave him insights into the sale of products and services to research centres, helping to accelerate the discovery of new candidate medicines. Fabrice PLASSON also previously worked with Whatman Ltd. in France, where he was responsible for managing international distributors. In this position, he was instrumental in Whatman Ltd.'s successful tender for the genetic fingerprints market in France. Earlier in his career, Fabrice PLASSON developed sales for Oxoid, and was called in as a consultant on the Legionella risk by hospitals and companies. His qualifications include a double master’s degree in Biology and Marketing from the university Joseph Fourier in Grenoble, and an Executive MBA (Executive Masters of Business Administration) from EM-Lyon.
Sandrine DEMANECHE has 20 years’ experience in research and development in the field of environmental microbiology. Before joining Amoéba, she was head of a sequencing platform and developed research projects in a school of engineering. Sandrine DEMANECHE is a PhD graduate of Claude Bernard University in Lyon.