Our mission is to

Assess the effects of compounds
without the use of regulatory animal tests

What we offer

 
  • Assessment of toxicity and health effects of compounds through a combination of wet lab testing and data science solutions

  • Identification of the mode of action by which your product affects the human body (mechanisms / Adverse Outcome Pathways)

  • Assisting you in selecting the most suitable -regulatory animal free- test system(s) for studies towards compound activity

  • Investigating your complex compounds (among others: volatile, UVCBs, plant extracts, and compound mixtures)

  • Assisting you with tailor-made solutions for your research approach

Our services

Vivaltes offers a combination of data science and wet lab testing with the non-mammalian organism Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) to assess adverse and/or positive health effects of compounds.

Areas of service include analysis of (components of) food and animal feed, chemicals, active plant ingredients, and pharmaceuticals.

Uniquely, Vivaltes’ systems allow analysis of combinations of active compounds and substances with unknown or variable composition, complex reaction products, or of biological materials (UVCBs).

Originally developed for developmental and reproductive toxicology (DART) testing, our wet lab portfolio now also includes: neurotoxicity, oxidative stress, fat accumulation, eating behaviour, associative learning, energy levels, and autophagy. Toxicity and beneficial health effects can be tested concurrently, with the possibility to start from a disease model.

Our data science portfolio includes evolutionary cross-species conservation mapping, phenomics, and pathway mapping. See for example our product DARTpaths.

Contact Vivaltes directly to discuss options for tailor-made solutions.

Why Vivaltes wet lab testing is predictive for humans

Rationale

 
Our service pipeline provides ethical alternatives for regulatory animal research and aims to reduce, replace, and refine (3Rs) regulated animal testing. This is achieved by introducing a Tier-1 phase using new alternative test methods. C. elegans nematodes are very small animals of only ~1mm in size. Even though the animal-testing law does not apply for C. elegans, it has the same complexity as higher organisms. As a result, C.elegans-derived data and mammal-derived data (rats, mice, rabbits) generate a comparable reliability when compared to humans.

Unlike in vitro tests with cells, living organisms like C. elegans have cells and organs inside their body which communicate with each other, for example by neurons but also hormones and other signalling molecules.

Our strategy allows us to pre-screen compounds to identify health activities (toxicity and/or pharmaceutical effects), to identify synergism between compounds, and to discover how compounds influence a body. Vivaltes contribution is to assist with the selection of the most promising compounds to fill your product development pipelines. In addition, knowledge on how compounds cause their effects helps to identify (new) compound health activities, can improve compound/drug combinations, serves as supportive proof for regulatory acceptance.

Using data science, Vivaltes can now go beyond exploratory lab testing. We are able to extract (e.g. mammalian) phenotypes from scientific literature and internal reports, and identity the involved mechanism/mode of action (like Adverse Outcome Pathways). Accordingly, we can predict expected phenotypes for the new test methods, like for the in vivo test organisms C. elegans and zebrafish. Our data science pipeline allows us to perform more focused confirmatory lab testing.

Moreover, we are developing a data platform which maps the health effects of herbs and its compounds, including its biological mechanisms. This database assists agricultural companies in developing new health beneficial products and marketing their activities.

Finally, in collaboration with academic and industrial partners, we are developing an online database that contains physicochemical and pharmacokinetic properties of chemicals. This database will be able to assist customers with reliable testing and allow for quantitative in vitro to in vivo extrapolations (QIVIVE).

The Experimental Model

Vivaltes’ core strength is the experimental model organism C. elegans, a 1-mm long transparent nematode, belonging to the animal kingdom. However, C. elegans falls outside the definition of animals as described in the animal testing law, and experimental work is as such considered animal-test free. C. elegans was first used as a model organism in 1963 and the acquired knowledge made an invaluable contribution to the fields of developmental biology and genetics. C. elegans has proven its applicability in predicting compound-induced health effects relevant to humans, evident from the increasing number of publications.

 The C. elegans body plan

Core components of our services

  • C. elegans is a multicellular organism, it has neuronal, motor, digestive, and reproductive systems, endocrine signalling, and sensory/behavioural responses to stimuli, which are not present in cell and tissue cultures.
  • The organism has been extensively studied since 1963, there is thus a large body of knowledge to make use of.
  • Humans and C. elegans have a common ancestor, thus essential genes and key biological pathways of C. elegans and humans are conserved.
  • Testing C. elegans is cost-effective and allows for rapid turn-around of experiments. An advantage of the use of C. elegans as a test system is that it allows for multiple concentrations and exposure times to be assessed simultaneously. Multigeneration and progeny testing can be done in weeks rather than years due to its rapid lifecycle.
  • Multiple types of toxicity ranking screens have demonstrated a high correlation of phenotypic endpoints in C. elegans to rat LD50s, with C. elegans data and mouse data predicting toxicity ranking in rat equally well.

Our Core Purpose

 

To reduce the costs and the number of animal testing by the introduction of a Tier 1 phase of testing in experimental models with predictive power for effects in humans.

To select the most promising compounds for your product development pipeline by tailor-made solutions.

To understand how your compounds cause their effects in order to help improve compound/drug design procedure.

Our Vision

To reduce the cost and burden of animal testing by:
  • Utilizing C. elegans nematodes as standard Tier 1 alternatives for animal testing.
  • Extracting the relevant information from the wealth of knowledge within scientific literature using data science.

Our Core Values

 
  • We strongly value authenticity and open communication.
  • Our passion is to deliver the best service and improve product development pipelines.

Projects

Publications

  • 3′sialyllactose and 6′sialyllactose enhance performance in endurance-type exercise through metabolic adaptation. Food Science & Nutrition (2023)
  • DARTpaths, an in silico platform to investigate molecular mechanisms of compounds. Bioinformatics (2022)
  • Herb-paths, a network and statistical model to explore health-beneficial effects of herbs and herbal constituents. BioRXiv (2022)
  • C. elegans as a test system to study relevant compounds that contribute to the specific health-related effects of different cannabis varieties. Cannabis Research (2022)
  • Towards a Reporting Guideline for Developmental and Reproductive Toxicology Testing in C. elegans and Other Nematodes. Toxicology Research (2021)
  • Serum Metabolomic Analysis of Coronary Heart Disease Patients with Stable Angina Pectoris Subtyped by Traditional Chinese Medicine Diagnostics Reveals Biomarkers Relevant to Personalized Treatments. Frontiers in Pharmacology (2021)

Collaborative Projects

  • Business Growth Scheme Xpaths: a unique tool for building bridges between animal studies and New Alternative Methodologies (budget: £50K; 2023-2024)
  • EFRO Natural Intelligence in Health (budget: €2.8M; 2023-2026)
  • Create2Solve: Better in-vitro Dosing – Framework and technology development for improving the quality of in vitro data (budget: €1.1M; 2020-2028)
  • Delta Horse Power: Products to improve animal health (2021-2023)
  • EFRO 3R TOXFLOW: Regulatory animal free petrochemical testing (budget: €4.3M; 2018-2022)
  • DARTpaths: Mapping developmental and reproductive toxicity genes and pathways for cross-species comparison of toxic compound effects (budget: £1.1M; 2018-2022)
  • MIT: Integration of Western & Chinese knowledge for creating a new market for health-beneficial foods (budget: €320K; 2019-2021)
  • EFRO Evergreen: Health benefits of hot peppers (2016-2020)
  • PRE-DART: Non-mammalian testing for developmental and reproductive toxicology (budget: £850K; 2013-2016)
  • Nieuwe Voeding Helpdesk: Regulation and testing of novel foods (2021-ongoing)

Using Data Science to explore and predict
health effects of compounds and herbs

About Us

Vivaltes was founded by Dr. Marjolein Wildwater and Dr. Gerrit Keizer in 2016 as a result of a NC3R-funded project. Their goal was to reduce animal research when carrying out toxicological and medicinal studies by offering C. elegans wet lab testing. Since then, Vivaltes has grown into a successful company with an enthusiastic team who share their vision of reducing animal testing, and with several long-term (inter)national customers. Expanding beyond wet lab testing, Vivaltes has won funding for several ambitious projects, which has helped develop their data science solutions. With strong roots in the scientific community, Vivaltes closely collaborates with academic institutions (such as University of Applied Sciences Utrecht and Utrecht University), which helps them to stay on top of scientific advances.

Team

Dr. Marjolein Wildwater

Founder, General Director

General Director at Vivaltes. Expert in Developmental Biology, Toxicology, Business Development.

Dr. Gerrit Keizer

Founder, Director Strategy and Business Development

Director Strategy and Business Development at Vivaltes. Specialized in advising SME’s in life sciences regarding their business development and company set up (Organisation and Business Strategy).

Robert du Mosch

Chief Commercial Officer

Develops and implements marketing and sales strategies for Vivaltes.

Dr. Sandra Langeveld

Project Manager

Project Manager at Vivaltes. Responsible for the (financial) administration.

Dr. Eefje Poppelaars

Lead Data Scientist

Lead Data Scientist and Scientific Project Leader at Vivaltes. Expert in data mining and (statistical) data analysis, and responsible for website design and maintenance. Specialized in human neuroscience, psychology, and physiology.

Dr. Jason Kroll

Scientific Project Leader

Scientific Project Leader at Vivaltes. Expert in C. elegans biology.

Dr. Vincent Portegijs

Scientific Project Leader

Scientific Project Leader at Vivaltes. Expert in C. elegans biology.

Aafke Aartse

Scientific Project Leader

Scientific Project Leader at Vivaltes and PhD-student. Expert in immunology, virology, and molecular biology.

Dr. Tsunghan Hsieh

Data Scientist

Data scientist and scientific project leader at Vivaltes. Expert in bioinformatics and immunology.

Jesús G. Arellano Spadaro

Scientist

Scientist and PhD-student at Vivaltes. Responsible for developing and executing high-throughput validated assays.

Liam Kirwan

Research Technician

Research Technician at Vivaltes. Responsible for developing and executing high-throughput validated assays.

Luuk Huisman

Research Technician

Research Technician at Vivaltes. Responsible for developing and executing high-throughput validated assays.

Max Beukelman

Research Technician

Research Technician at Vivaltes. Responsible for developing and executing high-throughput validated assays.

Prof. Cyrille Krul

Scientific Advisor

Scientific Advisor at Vivaltes. Director Healthy and Sustainable Living and Professor at the University of Applied Sciences Utrecht. Expert in toxicology and alternatives to animal testing.

Prof. Raymond Pieters

Scientific Advisor

Scientific Advisor at Vivaltes. Professor at the University of Applied Sciences Utrecht, Associate Professor Utrecht University, Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences (IRAS). Expert in Chemistry, Alternatives to Animal Testing, and Natural compounds (food and plant derived).


Dr. ir. M.T.O. (Chiel) Jonker

Scientific Advisor

Scientific Advisor at Vivaltes. Assistent professor at the University Utrecht, Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences (IRAS). Expert in chemical exposure assessment in toxicology.

In vivo compound screening and safety assessment
for predictive assessment of effects in humans

Highlights

 

Publication in Food Science & Nutrition

July 18, 2023
This article explores the health effects of 3′sialyllactose (3′SL) and 6′sialyllactose (6′SL), two acidic oligosaccharides present in human milk.

This study demonstrates the immense, yet unexplored, power of the C. elegans model in unraveling the complex molecular signaling, inter-tissue communication, and organism/tissue-level phenotypes of endurance-type exercise and metabolic adaptation processes.

Read the article here.

Follow us on Instagram

February 3, 2023
Vivaltes has opened an Instagram account, where we will be sharing weekly fun facts about science!

Find us on Instagram here.

New project funded



January 26, 2023
Our project ‘Natural Intelligence (NI) in Health’ was funded by the European Fund for Regional Development (EFRO) for West Netherlands.

In collaboration with five other companies and one university, this projects aims to develop unique scientifically-supported applications of natural substances for health.

Read the press release here.

Publication in Bioinformatics



December 23, 2022
In this article, our in silico platform DARTpaths is explained in detail.

DARTpaths can be used to investigate molecular mechanisms of compounds as well as suggest NAM follow-up tests of those mechanisms. It does this by integrating cross-species phenotypic endpoints.

Read the article here.

Next Level Non-Animal Testing Symposium

December 16, 2022
The symposium on ‘Next level non-animal testing’ co-organized by Vivaltes and Utrecht University of Applied Sciences on December 2nd 2022 was a great success!

Watch the recording of the livestream and see the pictures and presentations here.

Vivaltes awarded top 10 best companies to watch 2022

October 28, 2022
Vivaltes was awarded the top 10 of best companies to watch in 2022 by Business Magazine Success Knocks.

Read the article here, read the profile on Vivaltes here, and see the certificate here.

Publication in Cannabis Research




October 3, 2022
In this article, C. elegans is used as a test system to investigate health effects of different cannabis varieties. This research highlights entourage effects of cannabis that cannot be explained by THC or CBD.


Read the article here.

Vacancies

We currently have an open opportunity for a research laboratory technician, see here for more details.
If you are interested, please e-mail us your motivation and CV.

Occasionally we have internship positions available.
If you are interested, please e-mail us your motivation and CV for an open application.

Contact

 

Vivaltes B.V.

We are situated centrally in the Netherlands in Europe’s most competitive region. Our headquarters is located near the Uithof in Utrecht, which encompasses the Utrecht Science Park, the campus area of Utrecht University, the applied university Hogeschool Utrecht and the academic hospital University Medical Center Utrecht (UMCU). On this campus education, research, entrepreneurship, and healthcare all come together.

KVK Address

Heerhugowaard,
Noord-Holland,
The Netherlands

Headquarters Vivaltes

Regulierenring 9,
3981 LA Bunnik,
The Netherlands

Address iLabs

Heidelberglaan 7,
3584 CS Utrecht,
The Netherlands

E-mail

Contact individual members of the team
or contact us here: info@vivaltes.com

 In part funded by