e-miRgency: a technological breakthrough enabling the detection and monitoring of circulating microRNAs

The PhD thesis of Marie Charlotte Horny, now a co-founder of the start-up, laid the foundations for e-miRgency. It was during this research, carried out in collaboration with Jean-Michel Siaugue, a researcher at the Laboratory of Physicochemistry of Electrolytes and Interfacial Nanosystems (PHENIX – CNRS/Sorbonne Univ.), and Mathieu Lazerges, a researcher at the Unit for Chemical and Biological Technologies for Health (UTCBS – Univ. Paris-Cité), that the idea for the technology at the heart of the start-up was born. At that time, Jean Gamby, a researcher at the Laboratory of Interfaces and Electrochemical Systems (LISE – CNRS/Sorbonne Univ.), was working on the miniaturisation of nucleic acid detection systems. In 2015, he joined the Photonics and Nanostructures Laboratory (LPN, now C2N), which is equipped to manufacture micro- and nanofluidic devices. Today, Jean Gamby is head of the Microsystems Department at C2N and scientific adviser to the start-up.

A lab-on-a-chip device for monitoring treatment efficacy in real time

When it comes to cancer care, the need to assess quickly whether a treatment is producing the expected effect – so that it can be adjusted without wasting precious time – remains largely unmet. “Several weeks elapse between the start of a treatment and the assessment of its efficacy. This delay represents a missed opportunity for the patient if the treatment is ineffective,” comments Olivier Lavergne, founder and CEO of the start-up.

The solution developed by e-miRgency is a lab-on-a-chip device. It consists of a single-use microfluidic chip onto which a blood sample taken from the patient is placed. This sample flows through microscopic channels where the target microRNAs are captured and analysed. “These microRNAs provide direct and early clinical information on the progression of the disease, as their dysregulation can be detected well before the onset of clinical symptoms and within a few days of starting treatment. As their variation over time provides information on the effectiveness of the treatment,” explains Jean Gamby.

The chip is read by a compact device that delivers a quantitative result in under thirty minutes, compared with a minimum of one day for currently available techniques. For example, high-throughput sequencing or the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR), an enzymatic DNA amplification technique, carries a significant risk of false positives when analysing short sequences such as microRNAs. “It saves a considerable amount of time and is much cheaper than anything currently available,” emphasises Olivier Lavergne.

A patented three-step technology: capture, release, detection

The technology involves combining magnetic hyperthermia and electrochemistry on a single microfluidic chip to analyse a blood sample. Magnetic particles are chemically modified to bind DNA probes capable of specifically recognising and capturing target miRNAs within this complex sample. An alternating magnetic field is then applied, generating a release of energy in the form of highly localised heat around the nanoparticles, without raising the overall temperature of the microsystem. This targeted heat increase breaks the bonds holding the microRNAs to the probes and releases them precisely at the point where ultramicroelectrodes integrated into the microfluidic channel detect and quantify them electrochemically.

The first patent, filed in 2017 and extended to Europe, the United States and Japan, protects this combination. A second patent, filed in 2021, protects a multi-channel, multi-electrode platinum architecture that simultaneously detects and quantifies several microRNAs in the same sample.

From the laboratory to the prototype: a structured support programme

In 2018, initial funding from CNRS Prématuration and a call for proposals for commercialisation from Labex NanoSaclay enabled the recruitment of engineer Pedro Gonzalez Losada, now a co-founder of the start-up. His task was to miniaturise the entire device into an instrument housing the size of a laptop. A second round of funding, secured in 2020, led to the development of a reader capable of analysing eight targets simultaneously, incorporating both the instrumentation to generate magnetic hyperthermia and the electronic circuitry to electrically stimulate the electrodes and electrochemically detect the presence of microRNAs.

In 2022, Jean Gamby won the CNRS Rise Startup national competition. He was joined by Marie-Charlotte Horny and Pedro Gonzalez Losada. Together, they spent a year mapping out their commercialisation strategy, which led them to seek a CEO. This is how Olivier Lavergne joined the venture; a pharmacist by training from Université Paris-Saclay, he brings with him a twenty-five-year career in the pharmaceutical industry. “I wanted to set up a business based on robust technology, with intellectual property and a wide range of applications. e-miRgency ticked all these boxes,” he recalls. The company was registered in December 2023.

e-miRgency also benefits from support from IncubAlliance Paris-Saclay and the Paris-Saclay Cancer Cluster (PSCC) as part of the Cancer 2030 plan. On the financial front, the start-up secured an ‘Ambition’ interest-free loan from the Initiative des Grandes Écoles et Universités (IGEU, or Initiative of Grandes Écoles and Universities), was selected for the Wilco acceleration programme, and in 2024 received the Bpifrance Deeptech label, which recognises the disruptive nature of its technology.

Ambitions and roadmap

To validate its technology under real-world clinical conditions, e-miRgency is conducting two complementary studies. The first, in partnership with Gustave Roussy, assesses clinical relevance. It focuses on three tumour types: colorectal, lung and breast cancer. The second, conducted with the Cancéropôle Grand Ouest (Nantes University Hospital), in collaboration with Inserm, aims to validate the technology’s analytical quality.

e-miRgency is currently raising €2 million to finalise the development of the device and complete the validation studies. The aim is to launch the product commercially on a Research Use Only (RUO) basis in late 2027 and to generate its first revenue in 2028.

Beyond oncology, the technology platform opens up prospects in neurology and metabolic diseases, including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, where early dysregulation of circulating microRNAs has been documented.

In the medium term, an industrial partnership with a major player in in vitro diagnostics would be the most powerful catalyst, providing industrial clout, regulatory expertise and distribution networks.