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Miniaturization And hyperpolarized Xenon NMR for Ultrahigh Sensitivity – MAX4US
This ambitious project aims at proposing the combined use of hyperpolarized 129Xe NMR and micro-coils as an ultra sensitive biosensing tool for diagnosis purposes. Firstly two main properties of the noble gas will be used: i) the huge gain in sensitivity afforded by the hyperpolarization, ii) the ex
Role of type I toxin antitoxin systems in bacterial persistance – BacTox1
H. pylori chronically colonizes the stomach of half of the world's human population. This infection is the major cause of gastric diseases such as peptic ulcers or adenocarcinoma that causes annually the death of 800,000 people worldwide. Almost all bacterial genomes, including those of pathogens,
DNA in bundles, toroids and capsids – DNA
Our hope is: 1) to get experimental evidence of multiple types of DNA–DNA correlations and to identify the parameters that can control them,? 2) to understand how the confinement of the DNA chain interferes with these correlations and estimate the weight of each of the critical parameters involved
Metabolism of epoxy fatty acids in plants and engineering of the cutin biopolymer – BIOEPOXY
Epoxy fatty acids can be used as precursors (synthons) in various chemical syntheses. Some of them have demonstrated antifungal activities. Their biosynthesis is however poorly known in plants, which hampers their production and biotechnological use. The aim of this project is to identify and charac
Quantitative and temporal REDox PROteomic PROfiling in unicellular eucaryotes – REDPRO2
responses which enable them to survive and adapt to diverse environmental challenges. Nitrosylation and glutathionylation have emerged as key elements playing a major role in numerous fundamental cell processes and implicated in a broad spectrum of human diseases. Emerging evidence suggests the exis
Intra-nuclear complexes dynamics and interactions studies by microscopy – DynamIC
The present application investigates the relationship between the dynamic interactions of the positive transcription elongation factor P-TEFb with its HEXIM/7SK snRNA regulators and its function within a living cell. We propose to reach this aim by addressing four functional questions: 1) How do int
Chromatin Remodeling Mechanisms – CHROME
DNA packaging within the cell nucleus, via the formation of nucleosomes and their organisation within chromatin, contributes to controlling gene expression in a subtle and complex manner. To understand these control mechanisms, and the pathologies which can result from faulty processes, it is necess
Enhancing the therapeutic value of synthetic carbohydrate polymers against chronic Escherichia coli infections in Crohn’s disease by the interplay with glycosylation dynamics on host cell surfaces – STARLET
We are analyzing the influence of bacteria adhesion and inflammation on the glycosylation of superficial epithelial cells. Especially we project to determine the structure of the glycans induced upon FimH binding that have a function in the settlement of the pathogenesis, with the objective to use t
New biomimetic systems to study cellular acto-myosin contractility – Contract
We aim at understanding some of the basic mechanisms that control the dynamic mechanical properties of cells. These properties are involved in key cellular processes, including shape changes, motility, division, and mechanosensitivity. This project is positioned at the interface between biochemistry
Development of Dynamic Nuclear Polarization for solid-state NMR studies of membrane proteins – MembraneDNP
Despite the wide spread use of NMR spectroscopy for biomolecular structure determination the inherently low sensitivity of the method severely limits its application and progress in the field. Although solid-state NMR spectroscopy has already shown to provide very useful information at atomic resolu
Holographic Dissection of Neural Circuits – NeurHolog
Light is the tool of the 21st century. The combination of light microscopy with functional reporters, caged compounds and, more recently, optogenetics offers the possibility to control activation and inhibition of neuronal activity and monitor functional responses in a non-invasive manner enabling t
Model sinusoidal surfaces for characterizing the influence of topographically-induced deformation on eucaryotic cells – Sinus Surf
This project is a basic research project aiming to elucidate the mechanisms underlying the topographically-induced cell deformation, and notably the intracellular mechano-transduction mechanisms, thanks to the association of experimental and modelling approaches. With this objective we will notably
Fluctuations in Structured Coulomb Liquids – FSCF
The challenge is to formulate a theory of electrostatics of polarizable media and the development of a well-performing software which allows to use the application of the theoretical models to systems from soft matter and biology. ESPCI is developing the aspect of convex Poisson-Boltzmann functional
Engineering and Imaging multicellular tumour spheroids to study 3D cell proliferation – SPH-IM-3D
This project is organized around three complementary objectives . First, we continue the development of a new 3D imaging, SPIM imaging ( leaf light ) technology. We will conduct innovative developments in the field of adaptive optics, in the implementation of photomanipulation techniques , as well a
Characterizing the role of mechanics in immunity : towards an integrated model of T cell activation – ImmunoMeca
Cells are sensitive to mechanical cues. In particular, the stiffness of the extracellular matrix can control many fundamental cell functions, such as migration, apoptosis or differentiation. The goal of the current project is to investigate the role of mechanics in the immune system. In physiologic
Plasma gas for infectious diseases and inflammation – PlasmInf
PLASMINF aims to analyze the interactions and modes of action of bio-compatible plasma models on living targets. Understanding how plasma at the cellular level is expected in order to extend their applications to various diseases and, in some cases, opening the possibility to get rid of expensive ch
Caged Peptides to Block Endocytosis – CaPeBlE
Endocytosis, the internalisation of vesicles from the plasma membrane of cells, is a fundamental process of eukaryotic cell biology. To study their molecular mechanisms and role in cell biology, we propose to develop molecules to visualize and block endocytosis selectively in live cells. We have ada
Dissecting Microtubule Dynamics in Mitosis by Reconstituting Spindle Submodules – MITOTUBES
To properly divide its genome, the cell must orchestrate the construction of a bipolar mitotic spindle whose activity is essentially based on the dynamics of microtubule, major components of the cytoskeleton. Microtubules are tubular elements assembled from tubulin dimers (basic unit of microtubules
SNARE Assembly Intermediates in Synaptic Release of Neurotransmitters Studied with Controlled Bilayer Separation – PanoraSNARE
Synaptic transmission occurs when synaptic vesicles fuse with the presynaptic membrane, inducing neurtransmitter release. This fusion is due to the SNARE proteins. v-SNAREs are present on the synaptic vesicle and t-SNAREs on the neuron membrane. v and t-SNAREs assemble to pull the membranes together
GALA Pectin methylesterAses Generated OligoSaccharides. A new perspective in plant protection. – GALAPAGOS
- - - - Pectins are a family of highly complex cell wall polysaccharides which play a major role in controlling plant vegetative and reproductive development. They are widely used in the food ingredient sector (i.e. as gelating agent/stabilizers or hydrogels for drug delivery). The simplest and the
Influence of the substrate-ligand interaction strength on cell adhesion. – FORCELL
Tissue engineering emerges as a new field of engineering science that relies both on biology and materials science. “Living materials” are designed by seeding cells in synthetic matrices or depositing them on synthetic substrates and growing them to regenerate tissues or organs. The correct design o
Glycomimetics targeting Pseudomonas aeruginosa: Synthesis, screening on a DNA-based carbohydrate microarray and evaluation on bacteria – GLYCOMIME
Pseudomonas aeruginosa ( PA) is an opportunist Gram-negative bacterium, harmless for the healthy individuals, but dangerous at the immunosuppressed individuals. It is the third cause of nosocomial diseases after Staphylococcus aureus and coli E. It is the main cause of morbidity and mortality at the
Inhibiting Chromatin Assembly by Targeting Histone Chaperones – CHAPINHIB
Within the nucleus, our genetic information encoded by DNA, is organized into chromatin which basic unit is the nucleosome. The nucleosome consists of 146 base pairs of DNA that wrap around an octamer of histones. Histone chaperones regulate and facilitate the assembly or dissociation of histones on
Light-induced protein knockout – LIPKO
The understanding of the complex workings of living systems relies on the development of tools to study and control intrinsically complex cellular networks. To attain deeper knowledge of the spatial and temporal organization of such networks new perturbation tools are required. In this context, meth
Composite scaffolds for long-term enhanced survival, and function, of transplanted human stem cells into bone defects of clinically-relevant volumes. – VIASTEM