We built a dual micropipette set-up in order to manipulate cells and/or objects such as beads. The set-up in its simpler form is used to (a) glue beads on AFM levers to produce cheap colloidal probes and (b) present a target to a cell eg. an APC to a T cell or a parasite oocyte (or a bead) to a macrophage (image below).

With the group of A. Viallat (CINAM), we also applied micropipettes and microfluidic deformation to the study of monocyte mechanics in microvasculature mimicking microenvironment.

Wesley Freppel, David J.P. Ferguson, Karen Shapiro, Jitender P. Dubey, Pierre-Henri Puech, Aurélien Dumètre. Structure, composition, and roles of the Toxoplasma gondii oocyst and sporocyst walls. The Cell Surface, Available online 19 December 2018, 100016

Macrophages facilitate the excystation and differentiation of Toxoplasma gondii sporozoites into tachyzoites following oocyst internalisation. W. Freppel, PH. Puech, D. J. P. Ferguson, N. Azas, J. P. Dubey, A. Dumètre. Sci Rep. 2016 Sep 19;6:33654. doi: 10.1038/srep33654.

Controlling T cells shape, mechanics and activation by micropatterning. A. Sadoun, M. Biarnes-Pelicot, L. Ghesquiere-Dierickx, A. Wu, O. Théodoly, L. Limozin, Y. Hamon, P.-H. Puech, Sci Rep. 2021 Mar 24;11(1):6783. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-86133-1

Mechanical adaptation of monocytes in model lung capillary networks. Dupire J, Puech PH, Helfer E, Viallat A. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2020 Jun 30;117(26):14798-14804.