BSRC “Alexander Fleming”

Company Profile

Established in 1998, BSRC Al. Fleming is one of Greece's leading specialist research organisations in Biomedical Sciences. Fleming has a scientific staff of over 130, organised into 4 departments: Immunology; Molecular Biology & Genetics; Molecular Oncology and Cellular & Developmental Biology.

Fleming's main research areas include:

• Pathogenesis of inflammatory and neurodegenerative diseases and cancer
• Ribonomics
• Stem Cells
• Gene regulation and Epigenetics
• MicroRNAs and bioinformatics

Fleming’s technology platforms and research competencies include:

• Mouse and fly genetics and functional genomics
• Modelling of human disease in animal models (mouse and drosophila)
• Drug screening in animal and cellular disease models
• Core facilities for transgenesis, genomics, proteomics and cell sorting

Central to Fleming's research is the use of animal (mice and drosophila) models of human disease. As Greece's largest operational mouse facility we are a leading centre of mouse research within Europe; we provide mouse archiving and distribution services as a node in the European Mutant Mouse Archive (www.emmanet.org), providing one of the core services of the Infrafrontier Research Infrastructure (www.infrafrontier.eu). Fleming’s achievements (1999-2012) include:

• Over 200 high impact publications in scientific journals
• patent applications
• 37 active competitive research grants, mostly from the European Union (ERC, Marie Curie, ITN) and Greek government, but also from NIH, DARPA (both US government) AICR, Fraxa Research Foundation, Fondation Sante. Total value 23.4 million euro;
• The coordination of 5 major EU-wide collaborative programs;
• Three Fleming researchers members of European Molecular Biology Organization;
• Awards of prestigious ERC grants to three Fleming researchers
• Spin-off company focusing on translational research (Biomedcode);
• A strong record of training students in EU training networks (8 grants);
• The award of the status of a Greek center of excellence in an independent review commissioned by the Greek government in 2005.

Fleming encourages its researchers to undertake both translational and basic research and we collaborate with international companies and academic institutions of all sizes. Our spin-off company, BioMedCode, provides pre-clinical drug evaluation services to pharmaceutical companies using animal models of disease. Fleming's work with companies is varied, ranging from services to full R&D collaborations, as well as licenses of the institute's technologies.

Fleming is active in all aspects of technology transfer, and has a dedicated Innovation and Enterprise Unit (www.fleming.gr/techtransfer), which acts as a one-stop-shop for all aspects of the successful exploitation of inventions and technologies arising from Fleming research activities.

Technologies / Services offered or sought

Technology Available for Licensing or Commercial Exploitation

1. Materials available under license:
   1. Proprietary transgenic mice (highlights include conditional knockout models for Autotaxin and HuR  and a humanized RANKL-L over-expressing mouse tool of osteoporosis)
   2. Proprietary antibodies: anti-Tau (implicated in Alzheimers and other neurological disorders) and anti-Autotaxin (implicated in inflammaotyr disease and cancer)
2. Patent applications actively seeking licensing partners:
   1. TNF superfamily trimerization inhibitors (compounds that inhibit RANKL trimerization for use in disorders associated with increased RANKL signally, in particular bone loss disorders)
   2. Autotaxin pathway modulation and uses thereof (methods to diagnose, prevent and treat disorders involving the autotaxin pathway, such as inflammatory disorders, autoimmune disorders, fibrosis or malignancy of the lung)