The IPGG funds scientific projects where nano- and micro-fluidics play a central role in the research teams. During the 1st phase of the IPGG Labex from 2012 to 2017, 6 calls for projects were launched. They allowed 40 doctoral and postdoctoral grants to be awarded.
The 2nd phase of the Labex IPGG was launched in 2020 thanks to the renewal of the Labex in 2019. Since 2020, 17 projects have been funded.
Lipid droplets (LDs) are unusual cellular organelles that sit at the crossroads of cellular lipids.
metabolism. Besides carbon and energy storage, they play a major role in various processes such as lipid metabolism, protein storage and degradation, and resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses. In humans, they are involved in various metabolic disorders, while in plants, they arouse interest for biotechnological applications. A better understanding of the biology of LD is therefore crucial both for health issues and for green biotechnologies. In particular, the spatio-temporal control of LD biogenesis and functions of
coordinate the response to metabolic needs, stress and cell fate, remains poorly understood. Furthermore, methods to probe and dissect LD dynamics and functions in cells remain underdeveloped. Therefore, the development of new methodologies to probe and disrupt LDs in cells is essential. Here, we have built a unique consortium with synergistic expertise in biochemistry, protein engineering, biophysics, and cell biology aimed at providing a novel tool to probe the disruptive dynamics of LD in cells. The objective of the IPGG project
is to further develop this methodology and achieve temporal control over the assembly/disassembly of artificial condensates confining lipid droplets in cells.
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Conventional manufacturing of glass microfluidic devices is a complex, multi-step process that involves a
combination of different fabrication techniques, typically photolithography, chemical/dry etching and
thermal/anodic bonding. As a result, the process is time-consuming and expensive, in particular when
developing microfluidic prototypes or even manufacturing them in low quantity.
To address this issue, several methods relying on the thermal debinding and sintering of green mixtures
of photo-crosslinkable polymer blends containing a high fraction of silica nanoparticles have been
published and put on the market. While interesting, these formulations are not suitable to fabricate
microfluidic devices at high resolution, as they are primarily developed for 3D printing or wire molding.
In the course of this project, we intend to develop glass microchips from polymer/silica blends made oftwo widely used materials : PDMS and COC, and proceed to the debinding/sintering to recover
transparent glass microchips.
The implementation of electrochemical detections in microdevices is of great interest because of the many advantages it brings compared to other techniques such as optical methods. Measurements are fast, proportional to concentration and can be performed in very small volumes. However, the confinement linked to the reduction of the scales locally makes the control of the physicochemical processes more complex, conditioning the electrochemical performances accordingly. This is the case of amperometric sensors placed inside microchannels. Their response depends on the local flow and the hydrodynamic regimes established in their vicinity. This becomes a major problem when the flow conditions are not controlled or when they prove to be fluctuating, such as for the continuous analysis of biological fluids collected by patch-type fluidic microsystems (for the collection of sweat, for example ) or lens type (for tear collection). The circulation in the circuit is free and imposed by a biological mechanism (of sweating or secretion). To allow reliable amperometric detections, the challenge is therefore not only to remove a technological lock but to solve a fundamental problem related to the intrinsic dependence of these measurements on the flow conditions.
In this project, we therefore propose to implement amperometric measurements for the first time by coupling analyte detection with simultaneous determination of the flow rate of the biological fluid that contains them. Due to the growing interest in patch-type microsystems to monitor the physiological state of the body, the principle will be applied to the analysis of lactate in sweat, a biomarker of ischemic events and sepsis. In order not to unbalance the physico-chemical processes at the origin of the production of this metabolite, the approach will consist in producing a flexible microfluidic device, applied to the surface of the skin, not causing any disturbance in the production of sweat and its circulation in the circuit. This strategy should ensure exclusively electrochemical, consistent and independent determinations of sweat flow.
The impact of this project naturally goes beyond the scope of this application because its illustration will expand the fields of application of certain amperometric sensors limited until now to the analysis of fluids under stagnant conditions. The combination of the skills of the two IPGG member teams for the design of flexible devices and the incorporation of a suitable electrochemical cell should thus guarantee the success of this innovative project.
We plan to apply a combination of physico-chemical and biotechnological method to help circularize the plastic economy. To this end, we will create a droplet microfluidic platform that allows high-throughput screening and directed evolution of highly active plastic degrading enzymes (that can work on any specific plastic, in particular “real” plastic waste), while also adapting the microscopic/mesoscopic structure of plastics to these new biochemical recycling pathways.
Les communautés microbiennes constituent un composant essentiel des écosystèmes, et dans les sols elles peuvent apporter les nutriments nécessaires à la croissance des plantes, voir les protéger contre les phytopathogènes. L’idée d’apporter des microorganismes extérieurs à un sol pour favoriser la croissance des cultures est séduisante, mais peine encore à devenir une réalité économique. Notre objectif est d’étudier comment l’apport de microorganismes exogènes est toléré ou pas par le microbiote d’un sol, et s’il est possible de prévoir cette réponse. A terme, l’objectif serait de développer des outils d’aide à la décision pour l’agriculteur, pour savoir si un type de sol est permissif aux phytopathogènes ou pas, et quelle dose amener de microorganismes pour améliorer le rendement de ses cultures.
Synthetic microparticles increasingly penetrate the water cycle and accumulate in the environment [Akdogan2019]. They stem from cleaning and personal care products or from microfibers emitted by the textile industry. Other harmful synthetic microparticles reach the environment through different paths such as emissions from burning of fossil fuels or degradation of plastic debris in the oceans. They pose a direct risk for human health since they are constantly being exchanged through water and air flows between the environment and the human body via ingestion and inhalation. They are also a threat for the marine environment and their toxicity has been demonstrated on microplankton [Michalec2017]. Due to their high prevalence in diverse flow regimes, it is crucial to understand the mutual and fundamental interaction between microparticles and different flows, especially containing non-Newtonian fluids which are common in biological, oceanographic and industrial flows.
Using laboratory model microsystems, we will address the following questions in this project: How do microparticles (MP) spatially organize in vortex flows as a function of particle properties (as particle size, shape, mechanical particle properties or density difference with the surrounding fluid) and flow properties (including the presence of complex fluids and weak inertia). We will first investigate very well controlled model particles and then extend the investigation to more realistic cases as microplastic debris, fiber fragments or living micro-organisms. Following to that, we will investigate how does particle organization changes when going from the dilute to a more concentrated particle concentration? And finally, how do particle dynamics differ in the bulk or at interfaces.
Macromolecular and mesoscale investigations of soft and biomolecular systems require state-of-the-art tools to make breakthrough discoveries. This proposal describes a multicolor TIRF microscope setup, to be built at IPGG. The need for such instrument cuts across disciplines. We exemplify this describing two very different applications: [1] nano-scale fluid dynamics of complex (i.e. non-Newtonian) colloid-laden, polymer solutions; and [2] single-molecule observations of biomolecular interactions between surface-grafted receptor molecules and freely diffusing fluorescent ligands in the context of diagnostic tests and directed evolution studies. In these contexts, we aim to overhaul the total internal reflection fluorescence microscope (TIRFM) of the indySoft/MMN lab by converting it from a monochromatic to a tri-color probe with single-molecule sensitivity, and to enhance the accessible time scales, from seconds, to minutes and hours. The developed device will enable to distinguish distinct objects from single biomolecules to mesoscale colloids and to disentangle the different microscopic objects that could be responsible for heretofore unexplained nanofluidic phenomena. The accent of this proposal is on the development of simultaneous three-color TIRF, as achieved using an optical splitter. This will allow us to image three spectral windows simultaneously maintaining the full temporal resolution of our acquisition device and allowing for true color-coincidence measurements.
Among the different therapeutic strategies, combination therapy that associates two or more therapeutic agents is now considered as a cornerstone of cancer therapy. Here we will develop a new generation of tumor on chip (ToC) to further investigate the efficacy of magnetic nanoparticles – mediated thermal therapy (hyperthermia) in a controlled biomimetic tumor microenvironment. We will in particular explore in ToC the impact of nanoparticles-mediated hyperthermia (HT) at both cellular and microenvironment levels as a single therapy or in combination with anti-cancer drugs to unravel the synergetic effect of such combination. This will be studied with breast and lung cancer (humanized) models in terms of dose and range of action. We expect that the understanding of the mechanisms underlying the tumor microenvironment response to combined nanoparticles-mediated HT and chemotherapy or immunotherapy might improve their clinical implementation in terms of vectors, treatment sequencing and dosing.
Lorsqu’un mètre cube d’eau de mer est mélangé à un mètre cube d’eau de rivière, 1 Mega Joule d’énergie de mélange est libérée. Trouver un moyen performant de collecter cette énergie serait une
avancée majeure dans le domaine des énergies renouvelables. Actuellement aucun des procédés existants n’est rentable financièrement. Une étude économique montre que le seuil de rentabilité est
fixé à 2.4 Watt/m2 [1,2].
Dans ce projet nous proposons de comparer deux stratégies en rupture pour améliorer les procédés d’électrodialyse inverse.
-Tout d’abord, nous proposons de déposer sur les membranes commerciales des couches poreuses conductrices du courant électrique sur lesquelles les ions s’adsorbent. La (ou les) membranes ainsi
recouvertes sera(ont) reliée(s) au collecteur de courant graphite par des tissus de carbone conducteur de haute perméabilité. Ainsi le potentiel de circuit ouvert des cellules sera multiplié par
deux sans que la résistance interne ne soit affectée. Les électrodes choisies seront des électrodes capacitives de type carbone. La densité de puissance des cellules actuelles sera multipliée par 4 et
dépassera le seuil de rentabilité financière.
- Deuxièmement, nous proposons de déposer sur la membrane commerciale des couches poreuses conductrice du courant électrique et faites en partie avec des matériaux d’intercalation du sodium.
La membrane ainsi recouverte sera reliée au collecteur de courant graphite par des tissus de carbone conducteur de haute perméabilité. De la même façon que précédemment, le potentiel de
circuit ouvert sera multiplié par 2. Le procédé capacitif précédemment en jeu sera remplacé par un procédé faradique de surface plus efficace. Au delà du côté appliqué, le projet permettra d’apporter un éclairage nouveau sur les phénomènes de transport des ions dans les membranes poreuses.
Access to clean water is essential for all as it is central to every major challenge the world faces today. Contaminants to the potential drinkable water are coming from different sources and include from colorants and pesticides to drugs and hormones and has implied that the development at the molecular range of filtering and separating technologies a current touchstone for our society. In this project, named ‘Nanoarchitectured membranes for ion-based electroosmotic water purification’, a new concept of nanostructured membranes will be developed. A new class of membranes based on the promising metal-organic framework materials are designed and will be synthesized and then test in the ion-based processes, starting on electroosmotic water purificacion. This new class of membranes will result from the induced assembly of nanocrystals of Ti-MOFs, with controlled size and shape, to produce macroscopic hierarchical metal–organic frameworks structures by the assembly of their nanoparticles into functional supercrystals. These supercrystals will combine filtering and removal of particles and molecules by size exclusion thought their pores, meanwhile the Titanium nature of their crystalline nanoparticle framework will induce the electro-osmotic flow. We will then compare experimental results of different MOF membranes to evaluate the critical parameters that govern the
phenomena, helped by the fine tunability that MOFs present. The rationalization of this promising phenomena, that increase the flux and transport at the nanoscale maintaining low energetical and economic costs, will pave its development and further implementation in the large-scale decontamination processes. Furthermore, our current processes require a good selection of the electrodes to be used and their performance. The membranar supercrystals approach will allow us to explore the performance of novel electrodes, required for the energy efficiency of our separation process and related phenomena.
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