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The WEEL project aims at bringing new insights in the fundamental understanding of the abrasion wear mechanisms of reinforced elastomers that will set the basis for future improvements in the prediction of durability of such materials. This general scientific objective may be formulated in the follo

We find strong analogies between dynamic dewetting of complex liquids and adhesion rupture of soft solids, especially in the type of front instability which can be observed. In this project we want to develop an experimental and numerical strategy to quantify the dynamics of soft matter fronts movin

Photoluminescence has recently burst into the world of textiles due to the large number of potential applications ranging from security to architecture and decoration. This project, aims to develop new white light generating devices based on the use of textile materials made photoluminescent by a j

Stem Cells (SCs) are involved in the structuration or regeneration of all tissues of the body and have numerous foreseen applications in tissue engineering. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSC), present in very small quantities in adults, are multipotent cells which are an important source for cell therapy

Composite materials enable lightweight structures combined with high performance, which in the field of transport contribute to lower consumption and CO2 emissions. Process simulation is a way to avoid costly trial-and-error development. This project concerns the forming of continuous fibre composit

The friction law give rise to interesting phenomena in complex systems such as granular media or granular suspension. A popular phenomenon related to friction is the mechanical strength of two interleaved systems that cannot be separated even by two tanks.Interleaved systems have been less studied b

APOFLOW aims at designing innovative photoactive polymer colloids to achieve sustainable process for photooxygenation of biobased molecules. These colloids will help to intensify the performances (conversion, selectivity and energy-saving) of the LED-driven continuous-flow process while paving the w

Photopolymerization is a room temperature process allowing both a temporal and a spatial control of the polymerization that finds application in various areas such as coatings, inks, and additive manufacturing. Nevertheless, most photopolymerization systems employed today at the industrial and acade

The impact of non-Newtonian fluids (polymer microgels, suspensions, emulsions etc.) on free liquid surfaces represents a fundamental and scarcely explored topic in interfacial hydrodynamics and soft matter rheology directly related to extremely important environmental and industrial situations, such

The Moderato interdisciplinary project involves two academic partners (IMP, CERMAV) who are experts in polysaccharide modifications and characterizations, and the Technical Center of Paper (CTP), a French Technical Institute dedicated to the pulp, paper and board industries. It aims at designing nov

Natural or synthetic polycations and lipids, are used in nucleic acid therapeutics, such as the mRNA vaccine field and gene therapy, as vectors that interact electrostatically with nucleic acids, condense them into nanoparticles, protect them and control their entry and release into cells. While the

Thanks to their many advantages plastics have become ubiquitous in our society. Their low recyclability and poor end-of-life management lead to 10 to 20 million tons released into the environment each year. Because plastics degrade slowly, they persist in the environment where they are fragmented in

Supramolecular assemblies of intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs), i.e. of proteins lacking a stable 3D-structure, are important in cellular signaling and spatial organization and can be involved in pathologies. Here, we wish to explore the dynamics and kinetics of such assembly processes of IDP

Hybrid colloids with tunable star architectures will be designed from bioengineered filamentous fd viruses acting as arms specifically associated with thermo-responsive microgels as a mesoscale analog of star block copolymers. The formation of these new colloidal polymers relies on the complementary

Chemical anchoring is currently used in industry due to its versatility, efficiency and convenience. However, it suffers severe drawbacks concerning its sustainability, safety concerns, and narrow range of conditions for its utilization. Empiric strategies are currently used to find Solutions for th

The membrane fabrication relies on a costly trial and errors approach yet. The process  is based on the combination of phase separation (PS) and transport of mass and heat. Theoretical models that are currently used  lack the description of three key points: viscoelasticity, ternary effects and mult

Understanding and controlling colloid engulfment by membranes is relevant in drug delivery, microbial infections and toxicity from nanomaterials. In EDEM we aim at achieving a fine control on Janus microparticle engulfment and penetration inside giant lipid vesicles as cell model systems. Beyond par

The progresses in photonic technologies require the independent control of the phase propagation and the energy of light. This is possible using hyperbolic metamaterials, an ultimate case of birefringence with ordinary and extraordinary dielectric constants of opposite sign. Self-organized molecular

The recent rise of high-resolution and depth imaging techniques like photoacoustic microscopy (PA) stimulates novel research areas in biology. In vivo tracking of immune cells, signaling inflammation and severe pathologies thereof, is one of them and attracts great interest. The AZOTICS project thus

This project deals with enzyme triggered self-assemblies of small peptides in polymer foams (supported Supramolecular Hydrogels). These hydrogels present catalytic activity resulting either from the peptide self-assembly itself, from enzymes embedded in the peptide self-assemblies or from both. In 2

There is growing consensus that mineral crystallization from ionic solutions involves a liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS), where a reactant-rich liquid separates from water, just as in organic crystallization. However, mineral LLPS remains elusive because of the short lifetime of the liquid phas

The aim of POLARITY ANR-PRCE is the development of production of polar elastomers by a direct copolymerization way using organometallic catalysis. The incorporation of low amounts of polar functions (a few %) will give, depending on the nature of function, synthetic elastomers (more precisely high c

The coordination-driven self-assembly strategy is remarkably efficient in building discrete polygons and cages, unreachable through usual covalent chemistry. This approach, directed through thermodynamic control, is supported by both the highly predictable directionality of the metal-ligand coordina

Some natural adhesives can overcome man-made products. Self-assembling proteins with repetitive sequence motifs constitute glues of certain arthropod species. These sequences allow the design of modular biomimetic recombinant proteins to facilitate the study of these glues. We demonstrated that such

The VITRIPSA project aims at synthesizing a new generation of water-based pressure sensitive adhesives (PSA) based on vitrimers, with unprecedented control over the structuration and viscoelastic properties that will yield high-performance adhesives and bring additional understanding in the previous

Chain shuttling copolymerization, where the growing macromolecular chain is able to shuttle between two different catalysts, is a process which allows access to original macromolecular multiblock structures, in particular thermoplastic elastomers. It has so far mainly been developed on apolar monome

Amyloid-related diseases are widespread and obey to a common mechanism: the supramolecular self-assembly of a disease-related amyloid-forming peptide (e.g. the amyloid-ß in Alzheimer and IAPP in type 2 diabetes). Polyanions (natural polyphosphates –PP- and synthetic polyoxometalates –POM-) have been

Compliant walls play a significant role in many systems of interest; deformable interfaces abound in systems of biological significance. To understand surface properties of gels (like wetting or adhesion), long-range deformations must be considered. Mammalian synovial joints display remarkable lubri

The goal of the LOVETISS project is to provide a comprehensive description of tissue rheology, linking the physics at the cell and tissue scales, based on a novel biomimetic approach. We will characterize the flow of biomimetic vesicle prototissues, as a simplified model for cellular tissue flows ob

Cellular compartmentalization is crucial to the spatiotemporal coordination of biological functions. Membraneless organelles formed by liquid-liquid phase separation (coacervation) dynamically compartmentalize biomolecules in cells by being formed and dissolved in response to stimuli. Micro-droplets

"Covalent organic frameworks" (COFs) are an emerging class of crystalline organic materials, showing tunable porosity, with a periodic structure over several dimensions. They are based on the formation of dynamic bonds, formed by condensation reactions between their molecular precursors using modula

ANGEL aims at developing a rational approach towards supramolecular metallogels capable of achieving reversible sol/gel transitions in response to electrical stimuli. Such responsiveness remains almost unexplored, despite being essential to ensure implementation of such materials in devices. The ba

Chirality plays a crucial role at the molecular scale in a variety of research fields such as biochemistry, biology, catalysis, pharmacology, etc. In order to probe chirality, well-established techniques such as electronic circular dichroism (ECD) or circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) are neces

Hyperbranched polymers (HBPs) are highly branched macromolecules. In comparison with linear polymers, they have several advantages including an internal cavity and abundant functional groups with multivalent effect. HBP structures are irregular in comparison with dendrimers ones but offer advantages

The misfolding and aggregation of peptides and proteins into beta-sheet-enriched amyloid fibrils are associated with severe human diseases including Alzheimer’s disease, spongiform encephalitis, type 2 diabetes and Parkinson’s disease. The objective of this proposal is to elaborate and test smart na

In a context where new technologies require ever-increasing functional materials, the field of bottom-up design has recently seen the emergence of strategies to greatly extend the range of crystalline phases accessible to colloidal self-assembly, securing a viable path to novel materials with exciti

There is a growing interest in conjugated polymers, now found in most organic electronic devices. However, their preparation most of the time relies on precious metal catalysed reactions with poor atom economy and prone to introduce defects. The PhotoSynth project offers to prepare conjugated polyme

Metallopolymers appear as very promising self-healing materials due to the reversible character of their coordination bonds. The objective of this project is to introduce metallopolymers based on N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC)-metal complexes to the field of self-healing materials. Polymer-supported N

Repeats of amino acid sequences frequently observed in protein structures are often associated with important physical or biological functions. Logically, producing such domains is an appealing strategy for engineering minimal protein mimics endowed with desired properties. In this context, the goal

Nature makes beautiful architectures such as microtubules, fibrils, helical or icosahedral viruses… These shapes precisely engineered by Nature are directly linked to their function. The link between shape and function is the ultimate goal of the SUPREM project, the transfection ability being our fo

Water-in-water (W/W) emulsions are obtained by mixing in water two hydrophilic incompatible polymers. Stable W/W emulsions have a rich potential for applications such as encapsulation of hydrophilic molecules. So far, stabilization of W/W emulsions against coalescence has been tried by adding partic

Thermoelectrics (TE) stands out as a concrete alternative way for green energy production. Thermoelectric material converts waste heat into electricity, thanks to high charge transport and low heat transport between two electrodes. Up to now, TE materials relied on the well-investigated high mobilit

Many membrane-less cellular compartments are formed by liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS). This process is related to the flexibility and effective charge of macromolecules. The underlying mechanisms and driving forces are still poorly understood. BioLLPS is based on a well-defined biological

BANCODEMM project aims to explore new routes in the quest of robust guidelines to design polymer-based nanocomposites displaying enhanced barrier properties from combined experimental, theoretical and numerical investigation. In this project, the whole chain from nanocomposite constituents to proces

Recycled plastics typically exhibit poor physical properties because they consist of blends of incompatible polymers with poor interfacial adhesion. Although many approaches have been reported to strengthen such interfaces, all suffer from drawbacks in terms of performance, cost-effectiveness, or mo

A material with strong rigidity and huge ductility and impact energy resistance is some kind of “graal” in the material science. In this project we propose a path toward this objective by combing the ultra-high-molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) outstanding properties of impact and wear resistan

Dielectric materials are electrical insulators that can be polarized by an applied electric field. They are among others highly demanded for producing capacitors, which are the most important energy storage components in electronic circuit technology. The ability to print dielectric materials and ca

The present proposal seeks to use pairing of Boranes with Lewis bases, forming classical Lewis pairs featuring dative bonds to i) generate H2-containing materials when amine-boranes are employed: H2 can be thermally or catalytically delivered highly pure at a temperature controlled by the polymer co

Piezoelectric materials represent strategic elements for sensors and energy harvesters with multiple applications, in particular with the emergence of self-powered IoT devices. However, new concepts are required to tackle economic and environmental issues regarding actual lead-based piezoelectric ce