Behind the scene

CyRISBio: Tailor-made, Creative and Robust Lab Automation

For many years, CyRISBio has been helping companies transition from manual to automated processes. Today, the company positions itself more than ever as an architect of tailor-made automation solutions for life science R&D laboratories.

As the company enters a new phase in its development, marked in particular by a move to new premises, we sat down with Thibaut Ollivier (Managing Director) and Daniel Frayssinhes (Sales Director). Daniel has been leading this adventure for over twenty years, while Thibaut took over the management at the end of 2023. Together, they shed light on the origins of CyRISBio, its values and driving forces.

Who is behind CyRISBio, and what drives you to lead this project?

Daniel: This story started long before the name CyRISBio. I come from the world of biophysics and very early on I worked with instruments that measure, quantify and characterize molecules. The idea that you can “make tangible” what humans perceive only through their senses, such as taste or sight, has always fascinated me. That’s why I found great value in computer science, mechatronics, and, more broadly, automated laboratory systems.

From there, I went on to serve for many years as Managing Director of CyBio France, a specialist in automation solutions for microplate handling. In 2020, CyRISBio was born from the merger between CyBio and Hi-RIS Lab, an expert in informatics, robotics and custom integration.

CyRISBio today is the continuation of that story: a team deeply rooted in the lab environment, with real niche know-how, living every day with the constraints of the bench and the challenges of throughput, result quality and traceability.

Thibaut: I have a completely different background, but what struck me when I joined CyRISBio in 2023 was how well the promises matched reality. Customers describe us as a team that is available, clear about what we can deliver, but also honest about what we will not do.

We are a team passionate about life sciences. Several team members have a background in biophysics, biology or biochemistry, on top of which they have built strong expertise in automation.

What ultimately motivates all of us at CyRISBio is the same thing: helping scientists go further in their research thanks to effective and more reliable tools.

How does your approach to automation change the game for laboratories?

Thibaut: The first difference is that we are not locked into a catalogue. We’re independent and we don’t have to “make a profit” on a proprietary product line at all costs.

We always start from the lab’s real problem: for example, when a customer has a manual process that becomes a bottleneck (lack of reliability or productivity), or wants to upgrade an existing platform (improve a process, integrate new devices). Then our expertise lies in intelligently combining existing building blocks to deliver a solution that is maintainable, scalable and economically realistic.

Daniel: The second difference is our focus on life sciences. Many automation integrators work across a wide range of sectors: semiconductors, heavy chemistry, petrochemicals… We don’t. We live in the world of biological matrices, clinical samples and biobanks.

That changes how we listen to a customer: we understand what a critical time window between two steps means, the viscosity of a solution, the stability of a reagent, GLP constraints. We are the catalyst needed for the success of their project.

How would you describe CyRISBio’s strengths?

Thibaut: It’s a combination of creativity, responsiveness and excellence.

Creativity: Because for us, automation is not a standard product. Every workflow is different, every lab has its own constraints. That often means inventing a new combination of tools: pipetting systems, incubators, readers, robots, software, consumables, sample storage solutions…

Responsiveness: Because we are a small, agile team, with short decision cycles and real proximity to our customers. Based in the Lyon area, we currently work mainly with French customers. When a customer calls us, they speak directly with people who know the field, who can diagnose the problem and quickly adapt the solution. And the move to Chaponost, with a larger R&D workshop and a dedicated showroom, will allow us to test and co-design future laboratory automation solutions together with our customers.

Excellence: Because what we deliver has to be robust and run for years. From the design stage, we look for the right balance: reliable and economically realistic solutions that are scalable, with a service and support model capable of accompanying the laboratory over many years.

Can you share some examples that illustrate your impact?

Daniel: We have supported major pharmaceutical companies (Sanofi), CROs (Eurofins) and agri-food companies (Bayer Cropscience), as well as smaller laboratories that were still performing a large part of their operations manually on very sensitive steps (preparations, dilutions, etc.).

Switching to a well-designed and well-supported laboratory automation platform enabled them to increase throughput and stabilize result quality.

Thibaut: What I find particularly telling are also the long-term relationships we maintain with our customers over the years. We are building an ecosystem that evolves: extensions, migrations to new software, addition of new process lines. This clearly shows that our job is not to sell a robot, but to further develop the laboratory's tools over time, in line with evolving requirements.

What advice would you give to lab managers who want to automate a process?

Daniel: One of the major challenges is that many lab managers have never led an automation project before. They feel that “it can’t go on like this, manually”, but they don’t really know where to start.

Our advice is simple: don’t wait until everything is fully defined before reaching out to us.

There’s no point in spending months thinking it through on your own. Contact us early. For us, a successful project starts with the right questions: types of samples, volumes, biosafety constraints, software, available space in the lab, real objectives, etc.

That’s why we really encourage laboratories to get in touch from the very first reflections. When a specification is already fixed, sometimes with built-in biases, it is often much harder to step back and redesign a solution that is truly well suited. This can be counterproductive and limit creativity.

What excites you most about the future of CyRISBio?

Thibaut: What motivates me first is preserving our DNA: nurturing curiosity within the team and always staying at the forefront of key technologies (AI, robotics, new software solutions…). But also preparing the next steps: increasing our visibility, strengthening our team of engineers, expanding our project portfolio and deepening our partnerships with our customers and suppliers.

Daniel: What personally makes me happy is the idea of passing the torch to the team. Seeing what we have built over more than two decades continue to evolve, with a team that shares the same values and customers who trust us, is very important to me. I am convinced that the market needs independent companies, and that customers benefit from this diversity.

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