For many years, CyRISBio has been helping companies transition from manual to automated processes. Today, the company is more than ever positioned as an architect of custom automation solutions for R&D laboratories in the life sciences sector.
To mark a new stage in our development, highlighted by our move to new premises, we spoke with Thibaut Ollivier (General Manager) and Daniel Frayssinhes (Sales Manager). Daniel has been driving this venture for over twenty years, while Thibaut took the helm at the end of 2023. Together, they reflect on the origins of CyRISBio, its values, and its driving forces.
Who is behind CyRISBio, and what drives you to lead this project?
Daniel: This story began long before the name CyRISBio existed. I come from the world of biophysics, and early on, I worked with instruments designed to measure, quantify, and characterize molecules. I have always been fascinated by the idea that technology can make things "tangible" that humans can only perceive through their senses, such as taste or sight. To achieve this, I relied heavily on computing, mechatronics, and, more broadly, automated laboratory systems.
This led me to serve as General Manager of CyBio France, a specialist in automation solutions for microplate handling, for many years. In 2020, CyRISBio was born from the merger of CyBio and Hi-RIS Lab, an expert in IT, robotics, and custom integration.
Today, CyRISBio is the continuation of that story: a team deeply rooted in the laboratory world, with genuine niche expertise, living the daily realities of bench work, throughput challenges, result quality, and traceability.
Thibaut: I come from a completely different background, but what struck me when I joined CyRISBio in 2023 was the alignment between what is said and the reality. Clients speak of a team that is accessible, one that is clear about what it can do, but also honest about what it cannot.
We are a team passionate about life sciences. Several of us have backgrounds in biophysics, biology, or biochemistry, upon which we have built strong expertise in automation.
Ultimately, what motivates us all at CyRISBio is the same thing: helping scientists push their research further with more efficient and 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 catalog. We are independent and are not forced to "monetize" an in-house product line at any cost.
We always start with the lab's actual problem: for example, when a client has a manual process that has become a bottleneck (due to a lack of reliability or productivity), or wants to take an existing platform to the next level (improving a process or integrating new devices). Our expertise then lies in intelligently combining existing components to deliver a turnkey, maintainable, scalable, and economically realistic solution.
Daniel: The second difference is our focus on life sciences. Many automation integrators work across a variety of sectors: semiconductors, heavy chemicals, petrochemicals, and so on. We don’t. We live and breathe biological matrices, clinical samples, and biobanks.
This changes how we listen to a client: we understand what a critical time window between two steps means, the viscosity of a solution, the stability of a reagent, and GLP constraints. We are the catalyst needed for their project’s success.
How would you describe the qualities of CyRISBio?
Thibaut : It’s a combination of creativity, responsiveness, and excellence.
Creativity: Because for us, automation is not a standard product. Every workflow is different, and every lab has its own unique constraints. We often have to invent a new combination of tools: pipettes, incubators, readers, robots, software, consumables, sample storagesolutions…
Responsiveness: Because we are an agile team with short decision-making chains and a genuine closeness to our clients. Based in the Lyon region, we currently work primarily with French partners. When a client calls us, they speak directly to people who know the field, are capable of diagnosing the problem, and can quickly adjust the solution. And our move to Chaponost, with a larger R&D workshop and a dedicated showroom, will allow us to more easily test and co-design future automated laboratory solutions with our clients.
Excellence: Because what we deliver must be robust and function for years. From the design stage, we seek the right balance: reliable, economically realistic, and scalable solutions, backed by a service team capable of supporting the laboratory for years to come.
Can you share some examples that illustrate your impact?
Daniel: We have supported major pharmaceutical companies (Sanofi), CROs (Eurofins), and agribusiness groups (Bayer CropScience), as well as smaller laboratories that were still performing a large portion of their sensitive tasks (preparations, dilutions, etc.) by hand.
Transitioning to a well-designed and well-supported automated laboratory platform has allowed them to increase throughput and stabilize the quality of their results.
Thibaut: What I find telling is the long-term relationships we maintain with our clients over the years. We create a living ecosystem: extensions, migrations to new software, and the addition of new process lines. That is where you see that our job isn't just to sell a robot, but to evolve the laboratory's working tools over time, as needs evolve.
What advice would you give to lab managers looking to automate a process?
Daniel: One of the biggest challenges is that many lab managers have never led an automation project. They know that "things can't go on like this, manually," but they don't know where to start.
Our advice is simple: don't wait until you have everything mapped out to call us.
There is no point in spending months thinking about it alone. Contact us early on. For us, a successful project starts with the right questions: sample types, volumes, biosafety constraints, software, available lab space, actual objectives, and so on.
That is why we strongly encourage labs to contact us during the initial planning stages. When we are presented with a set of specifications that is already set in stone—and sometimes biased—it is often harder to go back and redesign a truly suitable solution. That can be counterproductive and stifle creativity.
What excites you about the future of CyRISBio?
Thibaut: What drives me is, first and foremost, preserving our DNA: fostering curiosity within the team and staying at the forefront of key technologies (AI, robotics, new software solutions, etc.). But it’s also about preparing for the next steps: increasing our visibility, expanding our engineering team, growing our project portfolio, and strengthening our partnerships with clients and suppliers.
Daniel: What personally excites me is the idea of passing the torch to the team. Seeing what we have built over the past two decades continue to evolve, with a team that shares the same values and clients who trust us, is very important to me. I am convinced that the market needs independent companies and that clients benefit from this diversity.
If you would like to discover how CyRISBio can automate your manual workflows, come see us at Forum Labo Lyon or book an appointment with Daniel or Thibaut for a personalized consultation!