Some news

Some news from the team, since last fall 2018. I’ll start from the most recent :

  • I’ve been hosted for 2 weeks (’twas 10 days at the beginning, but a strike from SAS company allowed me to stay a little bit longer) at the Department of Clinical Microbiology of Umeå University (Sweden), in the group of Ass. Pr. M. Bally, thanks to a funding from the TOR program from the Institut Français de Suède. Lots of discussions, visits, experiments, and we hope a long lasting collaboration.
  • Lorraine has left the lab last month, and started a new postdoc at the Laboratoire Jean Perrin (Sorbonne Université). Her results in our team are starting to be published. Still under review, but the preprint is online.
  • Lucie Lacour (M1, Chemistry, Sorbonne Université) joined the team for a 3 months internship.
  • Kaori’s work on the development of microfluidic setups to study plant development is now online, and under review for publication. The preprint is online though, if you want to give a look.
  • Lea’s work on a new, more efficient protocol to functionnalize emulsion droplets has been accepted in Langmuir. This work started during her master’s internship here, and was finished during the first months of her PhD.
  • A first paper related to our collaborative work with A. Utada and N. Obana (U. Tsukuba) has been published in Microbes and Environnement. It describes the existence of a distinct subpopulation in the WT Alcanivorax Borkumensis.
Tavelsjö lake, Västerbotten, Sweden (End of April 2019)

Congrats to Dr. Matton and Dr. Mesdjian !

This end of semester was quite heavy, with two PhD graduations !
Pascal, who worked on the synthesis of fluorescent glycolipids to functionalize droplets graduated last week. He did his PhD with two advisors, J.M. Mallet and me.
Olivier, who worked on the developement of a microfluidic chip to perform statistical studies of B-cell antigen extraction, graduated yesterday.

Congratulations to both of them ! It is a good start for their career.

Olivier Mesdjian
Pascal Matton

Engineer/Postdoc and M2 positions available

We are currently recruiting for projects taking place at IPGG :

  1. an engineer or postdoc to work on an applied interdisciplinary project to develop a new method to purify cells and organelles using homemade functionalized microparticles.
    The project involves the Institut Curie (Pablo Vargas, for immunology and cell biology) and the Pôle Microfluidique of the ENS Chemistry department (Jacques Fattaccioli, for chemistry and particle formulation).
    This position is offered, initially, on a fixed-term contract of 12 months. Extension could be considered based on the project advancement and future funding.
    The candidate should hold a M.Sc., engineering degree or PhD in biology, biophysics,  or related fields, have a strong interest in applied research and have a good expertise in cell manipulation. Background on surface functionalization, colloidal particles formulation, etc. will be a plus.
    Interested candidates should send a cover letter explaining their relevant work experience, a curriculum vitae and contact details of two references by e-mail to Jacques Fattaccioli (jacques.fattaccioli@ens.fr) and Pablo Vargas (pablo.vargas@curie.fr)

  2. a M2 intern, within the context of a collaboration between our team and the IJPB plant biology lab (INRA AgroParistech).
    We aim at studying the possibility to replace current processes based on mechanical cell lysis and centrifugation to perform plant cell fractionation and organelles (e.g. lipid droplets) separation using a specifically designed microfluidics chip.
    Regarding the techniques, the proposal is intended for student wishing to work in an interdisciplinary environment and acquire knowledge in microfabrication, plant cell manipulation and biology, microscopy, etc. The project is suitable for physicists with an interest for biology.
    Interested candidates should send a cover letter explaining their relevant work experience, a curriculum vitae and contact details of two references by e-mail to Jacques Fattaccioli (jacques.fattaccioli@ens.fr).

Some news from the first semester…

university-of-tsukuba

News were scarce lately, and it is now time to summarize what happened during this last months (in fact … almost a year!) :

  • September 2016 : Lorraine joined the team  to work on the study of phagocytosis of functionnalized emulsion droplets.
  • November 2016 : Alexandra, who works for her PhD with Yong and Sandrine on an organ-on-a-chip project, started to spend some time at IPGG.
  • January 2017 : Kaori joined to work on a joint project with collaborators from IJPB-INRA AgroParisTech. Stay tuned for news to come 🙂
  • February 2017 : Léa started her M2 internship, and say what ? She will stay from 3 more years since she was selected for a UPMC IPV PhD scholarship. Her subject will be related to B cells, droplets and microfluidics.
  • June 2017 : I graduated for my Habilitation à Diriger des Recherches. Enfin ! From now on I can officially mentor PhD students, from the administrative point of view.
  • August 2017 : I’m currently hosted for 2 weeks at the Nomura lab (Tsukuba University, Japan) since our PRC Sakura grant to work together with my friend and collaborator Andy Utada was accepted. The grant will cover exchanges between his team and ours for 2017-2018 period.

OK, soon, summer vacations will start. And then la rentrée !

A bientôt.

N.B. Picture credits : U. Queensland, Australia

 

 

Back in 2001 – Les Houches – Séminaire Lavoisier

While wandering on the Internet, I came across this picture :

pgg1

Back in January 2001, a winter school called Semaine Lavoisier was organized in Les Houches, for young people studying at the ESPCI and other schools from the neighbourhood (I don’t remember exactly… that was 15 years ago).

Of course, one can recognize Pierre-Gilles de Gennes, who was at that time still head of the ESPCI,  Jacques Duran and Etienne Guyon. Amongst all the students on the picture, some of them pursued in academia. You can see on the left Manuel Thery and  Damien Cuvelier, and myself on the extreme right .

I don’t fully remember all the topics that were taught during this week, but I remember we had a lecture from Patrick Tabeling (head of the MMN laboratory) on microfluidics, a lecture from Jean-Louis Viovy (head of the MMBM laboratory).
It is funny to notice that both of them are active members of the Institut Pierre-Gilles de Gennes (IPGG), to which we also belong with Damien.

Souvenirs souvenirs !

IPGG Official Opening Ceremony

Today, we had the official opening of the new institute, in presence of Anne Hidalgo, mayor of Paris, Najat Vallaud-Belkacem and Thierry Mandon, ministers in charge of the Universities and the Research, and François Hollande, the French President. After a short visit of the laboratories, several speeches were given, emphasising the need for fundamental research and the need for long-lasting funding.

Official pictures and videos can be watched on the website of the French Presidency : [here]

Lab visits
Lab visits
J.F. Joanny (head of ESPCI) speech
P. Tabeling (head of IPGG) speech
A. Hidalgo (mayor of Paris) speech
Conference room
F.Hollande speech (French President)
F.Hollande speech (French President)

Microfluidics lab class (Fall 2015, some pictures)

We organised, for UPMC master students (5C809 teaching unit), three days of lab classes dedicated to PDMS micro-fabrication and some basic microfluidics concepts (mixing fluids at the micron scale, droplet generation, etc.). The lab class took place in the IPGG, in a room specifically dedicated to experimental teachings. The room is also used from time to time to teach people from private companies about these techniques.