News

Transforming Cell Assays: Bridging Science and Hospital Needs

janaelhusseiny News

Annual scientific day of Aix-Marseille University Imaging Institute took place February 23rd. Laureates of the 2023 call for interdisciplinary projects presented the progress of the past year of their respective projects. Among them, a collaborative project gathering Julien Lumeau, Fabien Lemarchand, Antonin Moreau from Fresnel Institute in Marseilles and Marie-Pierre Valignat, Olivier Theodoly and Philippe Robert from LAI was presented. It focuses on coupling micropatterned cellular assays from LAI to anti-reflexive surfaces produced by Fresnel Institute to detect protein secretion by cells, to obtain marker-less, manipulation-less and real-time assays adapted to routine hospital use.

Congratulations Martine Biarnes Pelicot (our amazing engineer) for your contribution to the book “Etonnante physique” published by CNRS !!

dupuyflorian News

We are delighted to inform you that our engineer, Martine Biarnes Pelicot, has contributed to the book “Etonnante physique” published by CNRS. In her article, Martine explains how genetic engineering enables her to create tailor-made tools for studying the biophysics of immune cells.

This book brings together 70 contributions from physicists who have recently been awarded a CNRS medal. The book offers a captivating exploration of the many areas covered by this surprising discipline. It is designed to be accessible to all those who are curious about science.

We invite you to discover this fascinating book by following the link below: https://anneedelaphysique.cnrs.fr/ressource/etonnante-physique/”

Valentine Seveau de Noray wins prestigious “Accessit du Prix Daniel Guinier” from SFP for her outsanding research!

janaelhusseiny News

We are delighted to share the remarkable achievement of Valentine Seveau de Noray, who has been honored with the “Accessit au prix Daniel Guinier” for the year 2022. This prestigious award is presented annually by the French Physical Society (SFP) to young physicists for their exceptional research during their doctoral studies.

Valentine’s dedication and innovative contributions to the field have earned her a second prize, a testament to her unwavering commitment to advancing scientific knowledge. Valentine finished her thesis “Quantitative study of cell guidance in controlled microenvironments: atypical cases of rheotaxis and adhesive haptotaxis” under the guidance of Olivier Theodoly and Marie-Pierre Valignat.

Congratulations, Valentine!

For more details on Valentine’s research and the award, please visit the link below: http://sfpnet.fr/baptiste-bienvenu-et-valentine-seveau-de-noray-accessits-aux-grands-prix-de-these-2022-de-la-sfp

Welcome Aurélien DUMETRE and Magali CASANOVA to Our Research Team!

janaelhusseiny News, Other

We are delighted to announce the newest additions to our research team, Aurélien Dumetre and Magali Casanova! With great enthusiasm, we extend a warm welcome to them as they join us in our quest for cutting-edge research and innovation.

Aurélien Dumetre, an associate professor in parasitology at Aix-Marseille University, brings invaluable expertise to our team. His focus on studying host-pathogen interactions, with current research spanning mechanobiology of coccidia, responses to food and water decontamination treatments, and transport dynamics of coccidia in soils. Aurélien also has a keen interest in amoeba-pathogen interactions.

Magali Casanova, also an associate professor in parasitology at Aix-Marseille University, contributes her expertise in amoeba-pathogen interactions at the molecular and cellular scales. Her research, covering phagocytosis, migration, and cytoskeleton reorganization in response to environmental modifications.

Together, Aurélien and Magali will undoubtedly contribute significantly to our ongoing projects and further elevate the scientific endeavors at LAI.

Welcome to the team! We are grateful for your decision to join us and look forward to the exciting journey ahead.

A new tool was developed at LAI!

Lama Awada Article, News

In recent work, Yong Jian Wang, Claire Valotteau, and Laurent Limozin managed to combine DNA scaffolds and acoustic force spectroscopy to characterize individual protein bonds. This work has been in done in collaboration with colleagues at CRCM and IBENS.

To know more about the work, don’t hesitate to reach out to Laurent Limozin or take a look at the article: https://www.cell.com/biophysj/fulltext/S0006-3495(23)00302-8

In press: CNRS

© Vladimir Kunetki – CNRS

Valentine Seveau wins the Thesis Prize Award of the AMU ED 352!

Lama Awada News, Other

We are pleased to announce that our very own Valentine Seveau received the Thesis Prize Award of the AMU ED 352 (Doctoral School of Physics) for the year 2022.

Under the guidance of Marie-Pierre Valignat and Olivier Theodoly, Valentine examined the behavior of cells in response to environmental cues during her thesis, titled “Quantitative study of cell guidance in controlled microenvironments: atypical cases of rheotaxis and adhesive haptotaxis”

We extend our congratulations to Valentine for the well-deserved recognition! Her achievement demonstrates the value of interdisciplinary research for advancing scientific knowledge.

LAI female power on display: La Marseillaise des Femmes 2023

Lama Awada Lab life, News

In an inspiring fashion, the women of LAI showcased exceptional determination and strength by participating in La Marseillaise des Femmes race with the support of INSERM! After 3 months of intensive training, our very own athletes, or “Les Athlètes Improbables” as we like to call them achieved impressive results raising the bar high for the years to come. This event has sparked weekly running sessions the LAI members have been enjoying in the Calanques national park!

Scientific guest at LAI!

Lama Awada News, Seminar

We are happy to welcome Ramray Bhat, from IISc Bangalore this week! He is using both experimental and theoretical methods in order to understand how form changes or remains unchanged in physiological and pathological contexts. His research work focuses on cellular reorganization within the contexts of breast and ovarian cancer metastasis. By employing both experimental and theoretical approaches using simulations and bioinformatics, he aims to build experimentally motivated frameworks to understand their multiscale dynamics.
We are starting a collaborative project and are very excited to build new science together!

Ramray Bhat will give a talk entitled Unravelling interactive frameworks of cellular collectives in cancer migration on April, 3rd!