We are an interdisciplinary team working on systems and synthetic biology. We use microfabrication, microfluidics, genome editing, fluorescence and super resolution microscopy to produce quantitative measurement of cells' dynamical processes. We also use advanced modeling and theoretical tools to extract single cell parameters. Our long term goal is to improve our ability to interact and control cellular processes in vivo, with a specific focus on gene expression and cell-computer interfacing. Our team is hosted at the Laboratoire MSC in the Physics department of the University Paris Diderot and benefits from the support of CNRS, USPC, Europe (ERC, FET-Open) and several grant agencies (ANR, HFSP, INCA, City of Paris, Region Ile de France...). We are constantly looking for highly motivated and highly skilled researcher and students. Do not hesitate to contact me if you fell that you can contribute to our research long term goal.
Cell Computer Interfaces
Regulation of gene expression is a central problem in biology. Cellular homeostasis requires a fine tuning of essential biological functions (e.g. response to stress, metabolism, etc.) through the activation of specific regulatory pathways. In order to decipher the logic of genetic networks classical approaches have long used specific toolsets (e.g. knock out genes, gene over-expression) to alter protein levels and observe the changes in cellular physiology. Although this methodology has proven very successful, it is limited to static and unprecise changes. This means that whereas the functional role of most proteins is known, their quantitative influence on the properties of their regulatory network is not yet accessible. Therefore, having a mean to externally control, in real time, the expression level of a gene of interest would be a major step towards a better, quantitative understanding of how a cell functions. This motivated us to develop a real time, computer based, control of gene expression in live cells. In the coming years, our research team will focus on two main projects: studying gene expression in the context of cell communities and interfacing cells with computers to gain control on cellular processes. Both projects will benefit from our expertise in microfluidic, microscopy and modeling and synthetic biology.
