Technological projects portfolio

Chemical phytosanitary products are largely used in the agricultural sector to fight against pests. However, their intensive application has harmful consequences on the ecosystem and leads to the development of resistance in the targeted insects.

One of the possible alternatives is biocontrol using bacteria (bacillus thuringiensis). However, the most frequently used strains produce toxins sensitive to degradation in the environment and their duration of action is therefore limited. Massive spreading of spores also poses an environmental problem.

BIOSAFE focuses on genetic improvement of the Bacillus thuringiensis strain.

On the one hand, it is made safer: it does not sporulate and therefore is no longer disseminated in the environment.

And the strain also produces encapsulated toxins that are resistant to the aggressions of the environment, thus increasing their effectiveness.

The biocontrol market for agriculture is rapidly expanding and is mostly dominated by the use of bacteria.

BIOSAFE is part of this growth dynamic, proposing an alternative to chemical insecticides for large-scale farming and field production by targeting a wide range of pest insects.