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.
Because a cellulosic wall encases plant cells, plant morphogenesis cannot rely on cell migration inside the organism: differentiation of a plant cell thus depends more on its spatial positioning within the tissue than its clonal origin. In addition to mechanical and chemical constraints, cells experience hormonal and metabolic fluxes that can be both inhomogeneous and polar, and drive differentiation. The understanding of the influence of these parameters on the fate of cells during plant development is crucial and necessitates the design of monitoring and observation techniques with a high spatio-temporal resolution. The aim of the project is hence to develop a microfluidic device as a tool to explore and decipher the synergetic role of various external constraints on the development of individual protoplasts: mechanical confinement, presence of a polarized flux of differentiation signals.
In the context of proteomics, there are still thousands of novel proteins to discover. Whereas classical protocols need various time consuming off-line steps, we propose herein to design an integrated lab-on-a-chip that will perform isoelectric focusing followed by protein digestion and finally mass spectrometry (MS) characterization. It will consist in (1) separating the proteins in function of their isoelectric point, (2) incorporating the focused protein zones into droplet microreactors including a digestive enzyme, (3) transferring the digested protein droplets into MS, either via a MALDI plate or an integrated ESI interface for MS. The development of such a lab-on-a-chip will bring a new path for proteomic sciences by proposing a rapid, on-line and low sample consuming protein characterization method.
The LCMD has recently developed a new strategy to form liquid core hydrogel capsules that are compatible to cell culture. The use of microfluidic technology allows a large production rate of such compartments that opens the way to screening applications of living tissues. The final aim of the project is to bring the capsule technology to such a level of accomplishment that it becomes an accessible and versatile tool for 3D cell culture in academic or industrial biology laboratories. The success of this new tool for cell culture rests on the possibility to implement a multilayer structure with various biopolymer gels, to further downscale the capsule size and to finally elaborate microfluidic strategies to manipulate capsules and to monitor the fate of numerous reconstructed tissues or organoids.
While international studies show that preterm birth has become the leading cause of neonatal mortality, the french « cour des comptes » has recently highlighted the alarming situation of perinatal care in France. In this context the IPGG an unique institut in France dedicated to Microfluidics and FCS PremUP unique network of research and perinatal care, have decided to join their efforts to protect the health of the mother and the newborn. This collaborative effort gathers different scientific communities and will allow the development of microfluidic relevant tools to identify new biomarkers of diseases of pregnancy and propose new therapeutic approaches for perinatal pathologies.
This project aims at developing a new concept of magnetic actuation of microfluidics systems based on the implementation of a new class of magnetosensitive surfactants. By harnessing for the first time magnetic field-induced gradients of interfacial energies, we expect to magnetically induce and control the motion of individual water or oil drops, floating or immersed in another liquid, or deposited on a solid susbtrate. Inside microfluidic channels, this new concept will allow us to magnetically control fluid flow in microfluidic devices and achieve key-operations such as fluid filling, transport and mixing. Multi-modal operations will also be explored by developing photo-magnetosensitive surfactants or by combining our approach with magnetic particles. Finally, we will integrate the accumulated knowledge to develop a new generation of electric power-free, autonomous, portable devices fully powered by miniature permanent magnets.
The objective of the work is to synthesize liquid oxygenates fuels (mainly formaldehyde and/or methanol) by direct oxidation of methane in a two-phase plasma milli-reactor. Nowadays, the direct oxidation of methane is performed catalytically at high temperatures. The main difficulties of this process are related to the stability of the methane molecule and the reactivity of the oxygenate fuels which may be oxidized subsequently into CO and CO2, with the consequent drastic decrease in selectivity with the methane conversion rate. Using plasma gas-liquid millireactor will give the opportunity to produce formaldehyde at room temperature and trap it in-situ by absorption in a liquid phase, thus obtaining both high selectivity and conversion rates.
Situations where groups of cells develop a collective response to their microenvironment are numerous: formation of biofilm, wound healing, stem cell dynamics …. It has recently been proposed that tumors behave as such a coordinated multi-cellular system. The interactions between transformed cells and their environment (including their neighboring normal cells) appear to play a crucial role in the evolution of the tumors; but the precise contribution of the environment remains poorly understood. In this context, new interdisciplinary approaches need to be developed that combine physical measurements with dynamic control of biological activities.
Our project aims at establishing in vitro assays to study these complex interactions between normal and tumor cells, in relation with their mechanical environment. Our model system is the monolayer culture of cell lines expressing, upon induction, constitutively active mutants of the oncogene ras. Our strategy consists in studying the dynamical evolution of well-defined coexisting populations of transformed and non-transformed cells: we will precisely tune in time and space the oncogene activation as well as its level, in an environment where mechanical properties are controlled. Altogether, we will investigate the crosstalk of mechanical and genetics factors on the tissue cohesion during early tumorigenesis.
How bio-molecular networks evolve is an outstanding question in biology which, so far, has been lacking appropriate experimental models. Here we propose a highly innovative approach to explore the evolutionary potential of networks, by combining DNA computing, droplet microfluidics and deep-sequencing. In a single experiment, we will create ~106 combinatorial genomes made of DNA molecules carried by hydrogel beads and released in droplets after encapsulation. Network topologies, inputs and outputs, will be encoded as reacting oligonucleotides, quantified by deep-sequencing all at once using a bar-coding technology. The unprecedented scale (104-105 fold improvement) of this approach allows to explore the relation between network structure and function, which should lead to a breakthrough in the field of network evolution. It will also provide new strategies for applying synthetic biology approaches to regulatory systems.
Droplet-based microfluidics is a growing field often requiring an accurate synchronisation for automated systems. Recently, we showed that confinement plays a crucial role in setting the droplet velocity. We thus propose to perform rational experiments for developing accurate models. First, the role of different experimental parameters (viscosity ratio, interfacial rheology, geometry) will be addressed in order to perform complete models used as a reference to predict droplet velocity. Then, the lubrication film will be analysed considering different experimental parameters and a tool allowing the characterisation of the disjoining pressure will be provided to the community.
Uncultivable microorganisms represent typically more than 95% of the microbial population in any environments. Access to a vast number of unstudied microbial populations will lead to a better understanding of our natural environment. It will also open practical perspectives, like for the search of new antibiotics.
This project aims to grow part of these microbial populations using new strategies based on high-throughput digital microfluidics and microorganisms co-culture.
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