After almost 4 years with us, Farah Mustapha has successfully defended her PhD. Farah completed her work under the supervision of Pierre-Henri Puech at LAI and Kheya Sengupta at CINaM (Centre Interdisciplinaire de Nanoscience de Marseille). Throughout her PhD, she produced soft gels as a substitute for antigen presenting cells (APC) to perform traction force microscopy (TFM) experiments with the aim of investigating the role of mechanotransduction in T cell activation. 🥂

Yet another summer that ends with the graduation of a new PhD. Nicolas Garcia Seyda joined the lab as an engineer before deciding to pursue his PhD in the sunny city. He successfully defended his thesis entitled “Live imaging of leukocyte migration in controlled in vitro setups”. His presence in the lab is surely going to be missed, we wish him the best on his new adventures!

Geoffrey Delhaye has successfully defended his PhD thesis! After 3 years in sunny Marseille, he’s off to a new adventure befitting his free spirit. Our warmest congratulations to you, Geoffrey, and best of luck in your future pursuits!

Congratulations to Dr Alexander Hornung who got his PhD in Biophysics from the doctoral school of Physics. His thesis was under the supervision of Marie-Pierre Valignat and is entitled “Two-dimensional migration of human effector T-cells: Integrin-dependent motility studies under shear stress”.

Mustapha Kamel Khelloufi defended his PhD thesis entitled: “Physics of mucociliary dynamics : device for studying the 3D cell migration : application to asthma and COPD” directed by Annie Viallat. Speciality Biophysics, Physics Doctoral School. The jury was also composed of: Jean-Marc Di Meglio (President), Pierre-Regis Burgel, Olivia Du Roure (Referees), Philippe Le Rouzic, Marc Jaeger, Isabelle Vachier, Pascal Chanez.

Link to the abstract:  http://www.theses.fr/2015AIXM4060

Paulin Nègre PhD student and medical resident of LAI obtained his medical thesis  on “Caractérisation quantitative de la migr

ation des leucocytes : applications médicales” (“Quantitative characterization of leukocytes migration : medical applications“). The jury (composed notably of Pierre Bongrand, Olivier Theodoly and Philippe Robert from LAI who wore very folkloric costumes for this occasion) was enthusiastic enough to deliver congratulations and suggest submission of the work for a thesis award!

Pierre Dillard defended his PhD thesis entitled: “Impact of ligand presentation on biophysics of T-lymphocyte adhesion” directed by Laurent Limozin and Kheya Sengupta. Speciality Biophysics, Physics Doctoral School. The jury was also composed of: Pierre Bongrand (President), Rajat Varma, Pierre Nassoy (Referees), Benoit Ladoux, Ana-Maria Lennon-Dumenil.

Link to the abstract:  http://www.theses.fr/2014AIXM4085

Alexandre Brodovitch defended his PhD thesis entitled: “Antigen detection and initial analysis by T lymphocytes” directed by Pierre Bongrand and Anne Pierres. Speciality Immunology, Life Sciences and Health Doctoral School. The jury was also composed of: Philippe Naquet (President), Claire Hivroz, Salvatore Valitutti (Referees)

Link to the abstract:  http://www.theses.fr/186017634