Date : 15/03/2012

Laboratory
Team Translational Research And Microfluidics
UMR-S775 INSERM-Université Paris-Descartes
45 rue des Saints-Pères
75270 Paris
Website
Main discipline : Molecular Genetics
Lab director : Pierre Laurent-Puig

PhD Supervisor
Valerie Taly
email : This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
phone: +33 1 70 64 99 54

Subjects
1.: Cancer/ Tumor development
2.: High throughput screening
3.: Prototype of « Cell battle » game

Tools and Methodologies
1.: Microfluidics
2.: Cell biology
3.: Image processing


This project has applied for a european funding (Marie Curie FP7 ITN IDP 2012)
within the "Wiser Games" Innovative Doctoral Program of the FdV School.

* Eligible candidates under ITN IDP regulations :

- Early Stage Researchers must be (at the time of recruitment by the host organization) : in the first four years (full-time equivalent) of their research careers and not yet have been awarded a doctoral degree. This is measured from the date when they obtained the degree which would formally entitle them to embark on a doctorate, either in the country in which the degree was obtained or in the country in which the research training is provided, irrespective of whether or not a doctorate is envisaged.

- At the time of recruitment by the host organization, researchers must not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc) in the country of their host organization for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately prior to the reference date.

Summary of lab's interests
Our aim is to develop and use droplet-based microfluidic system to perform experiments that are out of the possibilities of existing technologies. We develop new tools, procedures and strategies for Cancer research and toxicology.

Summary of project
Many microfluidic chips have been described for cancer cell culture, study of cancer cells metastasis and these devices could be designed to mimic the micro-environments of tumours. Developing a "Microfluidics cells battle" will involve the design of new devices for cancer and high throughput screening. The users will propose novel designs or modification of existing devices through a web- based interface. Cell battle platform can for example allow two players to manipulate a small cell population on a chip using chemicals or physical modifications. The users could also contribute by analysing the time-lapse movies of cell populations (cell number, morphology, mobility etc.). Objectives of the projects will involve crowdsourcing manipulation and movie analysis of cells grown in microfluidic devices

Interdisciplinarity of the project
This project will combine biophysics, cell biology, microfluidics and informatics to understand tumor cell behavior. This project involves partners with complementary backgrounds including cell biology, cancer diagnostics, microfluidics, fluid handling, device production and image processing. Indeed, it will be performed in strong collaboration with the laboratory of Dr J-C. Baret (Max Planck Institute, Germany; website: http://dmi.ds.mpg.de/) and three industrial partners : Fluigent (http://www.fluigent.com/), AREMAC (http://www.aremac-polymer.com/index.php?lang=en) and Nikon.