On Wednesday, 10th May, Mar successfully defended her Ph.D. project titled “Fast phenotyping of cell mechanics in the inflammatory response” in front of a jury composed of experts in the field: Nils Gauthier, Laura Picas, Jochen Guck, Jean-Luc Pellequer, Réjane Rua and Nathalie Pujol. We are delighted to share the news of her exceptional accomplishment and the invaluable contributions she has made to our lab’s research. Mar Eroles embarked on her Ph.D. journey as a student of the prestigious European ITN Phys2BioMed program to investigate the mechanics of monocytes and macrophages under hyperinflammatory conditions. Congratulations Mar and we can’t wait to see what you achieve next!

LAI ends the year on a celebratory note with the successful thesis defense of Leda Lacaria! Leda joined LAI as a doc2amu student under the supervision of Felix Rico (LAI) and Loic Le Goff (Institut Fresnel), where she focused on the comparison between benign and malignant breast tumoral cells using atomic force microscopy in force mapping, traction force microscopy, spinning-disk fluorescence microscopy, and polarization-resolved fluorescence microscopy. Luckily, she’ll stay with us for a few months in 2023 before embarking on new scientific adventures so we can enjoy her presence for a while longer! 😄

Valentine started her journey at LAI as an intern, and this week we’ve had the privilege of witnessing the fruit of her work. Valentine defended her Ph.D. project entitled “Quantitative study of cell guidance in controlled microenvironments: atypical cases of rheotaxis and adhesive haptotaxis” in front of the jury composed of: Nicolas Biais, Charlotte Rivière, Ana Labernadie et Matthieu Piel. Congratulations Valentine and we look forward to having you around as an engineer after the well-deserved break!

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!

Xuan graduated after many years of happiness in France and at LAI. She’s heading back to China with a new job in Shanghai, but as an employee of a French company, she will have the chance to visit us in Marseille from time to time,

Congratuations for all the nice work and best wishes !

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