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Research MADE IN Aquitaine 10 Portraits of research ” REALISATION
Edition 2010
Research in Aquitaine More than 11 000 professionals including 6 500 researchers 3 300 working for state financed laboratories 3 200 working for privately owned laboratories 130 acknowledged research units 327 requests for patents in 2009 [Inpi]
5 Universities PRES - Bordeaux University including: Bordeaux 1 University Sciences and Technologies
Victor-Segalen Bordeaux 2 University Life sciences - Sciences applied to healthcare - Science applied to Man
Michel-de-Montaigne Bordeaux 3 University Literature - Languages - Arts - Social sciences and humanities
Montesquieu Bordeaux IV University Law - Business and social sciences - Business and social administration - Management
Pau and Pays-de-l’Adour University 7 Research Organisms C E A / C E M A G R E F / C N R S / I F R E M E R / I N R A / I N R I A / I N S E R M Cap Sciences publication - Editing: Donatien Garnier - Translation: Mickael Appourchaux - Photos: Frédéric Desmesure - Graphic design and realisation: Lisa Morand
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femtoseconde laser to detect metals at the micrometric scale � Bio-Inorganic Analytical Chemistry and Environment Laboratory
The detection of trace metals within solid samples is a very useful way to measure the toxicity levels in certain environments or to identify the curative potential of molecules: it has now achieved unequaled precision thanks to the ALFAMET* laser. This tool was conceived by Christophe Pécheyran (LCABIE**) along with two Bordeaux-based companies Amplitude Système and Novalase. pneumatic drill turns the matter it digs up into dust. Likewise, lasers create a cloud of nano-particles when they pierce through solids. When analysed through inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, these particles reveal the precise chemical composition of samples that are just a few microns large. This method which has been used for 25 years is all the more useful as it does not require the solids to be solutionized. Early in the 2000’s, Christophe Pécheyran suggested using the properties of a laser whose power lied in the extreme brevity of its light impulses, just a few femtoseconds (10-15s). This laser pierces materials so fast that the matter ablation occurs without any temperature increase, which may transform the sampled particles.
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Another plus is that it is capable of highcadence impulses (10,000 impulses per sec against 10 to 20 beforehand). Christophe Pécheyran’s great insight then was to couple the laser to a 2D galvanometric scanner (a pair of mirrors connected to engines) able to drive the beam along all possible trajectories. Moving the beam rapidly allows to increase the amount of particles transmitted by time unit to the spectrometer and therefore to improve its sensitivity. Since it was set up, ALFAMET has proved its efficiency in fields as diverse as proteomics, the monitoring of radioactive environments or oil prospection.
Bio-Inorganic Analytical Chemistry and Environment Laboratory [LCABIE ]
The fish black box At the back of their gills, fish have a pair of small otoliths: aragonite accretions that grow along with the animal, forming periodic rings. The trace metals trapped within the otoliths give insight to the environments visited by the fish: ALFAMET helps retrace their travels. Numerous bodies, such as the Cemagref, INRA or the National Museum of Natural History collaborate with the LCABIE in that field.
Platform In order to improve his tool and to share its use with the researchers’ community, Christophe Pécheyran set up a platform project. 17 laboratories in 6 countries (including the USA) have joined in and the Aquitaine Region finances 35% of the 650,000 euros required for its launch, planned for 2011.
One of a kind Christophe Pécheyran received the Instrumentation Award 2010 from the French Society of Chemistry and Physics: along with his team, he is a leader in France and abroad. Since 2004, he has been literally the only one – along with a Japanese team who joined the race recently – to develop this much acclaimed technology.
Bio-Inorganic Analytical Chemistry and Environment Laboratory [ LCABIE ] UMR 5254 - CNRS University of Pau and the Pays-de-l’Adour Pau http://iprem.univ-pau.fr/live
* Femtosecond Laser Ablation for the Analysis of Trace MEtals.
MADE IN Aquitaine research
* * Bio-Inorganic Analytical Chemistry and Environment Laboratory.
10 portraits of research - Edition 2010
Cap Sciences publication - Editing: Donatien Garnier - Translation: Mickael Appourchaux - Photos: Frédéric Desmesure - Graphic design and realisation: Lisa Morand
A unique tool
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Wine molecules will provide the medicines of the future � European Institut of Chemistry and Biology
Researchers in Stéphane Quideau’s team at the IECB* work at the junction of chemistry and the organic, molecular and natural fields and they have developed a singular connection with oenology. Their work has already shed new light on certain aspects of the chemical processes of vinification, but it could also bring about new treatments for cancer, Alzheimer or other diseases. hat are the active ingredients present in the plant products used in traditional Eastern medicine? In Japan, scientists have long been fascinated with this question and they demonstrated that a specific kind of polyphenols called ellagitannins is often present in traditional remedies, and among them some hybrid molecules formed from one ellagitannin and one other type of polyphenol. All laboratories are influenced by their environment and Stéphane Quideau’s team naturally turned to wine to seek out these molecules. It all started in 2003 when they discovered and reproduced in culture one such molecule, the Acutissimin A; since then their research has gone from strength to strength. So far, their conclusions are three-fold: first of all, this molecule is found
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exclusively in fine wines matured in barrels. It grows by locking in the oak ellagitannin called Vescalagin with the wine molecule called Catechin, through a chemical reaction triggered by the wine’s acidity. Secondly, this hemisynthesis also happens when the barrels are replaced with wood chips, which may be of great interest for the wine industry. Finally, Acutissimin A has proved a good inhibitor of Topolsomerase 2, an enzyme involved in the replication of the DNA. It may therefore block the development of cancerous tumours. The team is now using this research model in order to seek out new molecules and to evaluate their therapeutic potential.
European Institute of Chemistry and Biology [IECB]
Outsiders So far, ellagitannins are not listed by the pharmaceutical industry, but things may change. Indeed, the IECB team has determined that oak molecules such as vescalagin, castalagin or hybrid molecules of the acutissimin type may block the herpes virus. Learned society Stéphane Quideau is the president of the “Groupe Polyphénols”, a learned society numbering 500 members in 45 countries who study these molecules, their chemical and biochemical properties, as well as their applications. He is also the author of the first reference book on ellagitannins, published by World Scientific Publishing in 2010.
Automated experiments The Aquitaine regional council supported the research team with a grant of 90,000 euros, i.e. one third of the total cost of a new synthesis robot used to operate automated and simultaneous series of chemical reactions. In 2010, the Regional Council also contributed to finance the salary of an Italian post-phD researcher.
European Institute of Chemistry and Biology [IECB] Bordeaux http://www.iecb.u-bordeaux.fr
MADE IN Aquitaine research * IECB: European Institute of Chemistry and Biology.
10 portraits of research - Edition 2010
Cap Sciences publication - Editing: Donatien Garnier - Translation: Mickael Appourchaux - Photos: Frédéric Desmesure - Graphic design and realisation: Lisa Morand
Bacchus and the chemicists
imagery “ Cellular public private research
at its best helps
and
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Bordeaux Imaging Center
Three research centres dedicated to electronic and optical microscopy, as well as plant tissue imagery have now merged to create the BIC*, a core element of the Neurocampus. The platform is headed by Daniel Choquet and aims to provide researchers with cutting-edge tools and methodologies.
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n the space of just a few years, high-resolution optical microscopy has made such advances that it is now possible to observe objects ranging in the dozen nanometers scale. Because it is non-intrusive, this technology is slightly less efficient than its electronic counterpart but it allows the observation of living cells. Instead of confronting these technologies, the BIC teams seek to combine them in order to observe the living down to the nanometer scale. Their method is to freeze the sample after it has been observed with an optical microscope and then to place it into the electron microscope’s chamber. The aim here is to superimpose both images; the needle and the haystack, as it were. In order to achieve this and to provide this new “correlative micro-
scopy” as soon as possible, researchers work on optimising both the freezing and micropositioning processes. The team of 14 engineers in charge of the platform are constantly seeking to find new tools for data capture and image analysis, along with an intensive use of existing tools, so as to provide the best customer support. The BIC numbers almost 200 referenced users among public and private laboratories in France and overseas. Over the last year, no less than 100 publications were made using their resources.
Bordeaux Imaging Center [ BIC ]
Using training as a communication tool With a view to strengthening its network and to spreading its technologies overseas, the platform has set up yearly high-level training sessions designed for confirmed users or for scientists willing to be initiated. The selected few then become excellent ambassadors of the “Aquitaine” know-how. Contributing to discoveries The BIC technologies and services are regular contributors to outstanding achievements. For instance, the method allowing to visualize intracellular components enabled Patrick Moreau’s team at the Membrane Biogenesis laboratory to demonstrate that glucosil-ceramide was involved in the vegetal cells’ secretion process.
A unique specimen in France In 2007, the Regional Council funded various state-of-art equipments (900,000 euros) including a very high-resolution STED microscopes. There were only six very high-resolution STED microscopes in the world and none in France then. The European Fund Feder, gave an additional 300,000 euros in 2009. Another step to push back even further the boundaries of the visible world.
Bordeaux Imaging Center [BIC] Bordeaux http://www.bic.u-bordeaux2.fr
MADE IN Aquitaine research * BIC: Bordeaux Imaging Center.
10 portraits of research - Edition 2010
Cap Sciences publication - Editing: Donatien Garnier - Translation: Mickael Appourchaux - Photos: Frédéric Desmesure - Graphic design and realisation: Lisa Morand
A world leader in bio-imagery
forerunners of flexible and printable electronics �
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The
Organic Polymer Chemistry Laboratory
Georges Hadziioannou has been a pioneer scientist researching materials capable of reproducing the semi-conducting properties of silicon. In 2009, he joined the LCPO* in Bordeaux under the prestigious chair: “Advanced functional materials for the information, communication and energy technologies” and he has many ongoing projects. he electronic book is booming and on the verge of a revolution: it will soon display the same colours as a computer screen. Georges Hadziioannou and his team have already conceived prototypes in bichromy. To achieve this, they first had to lock colouring agents (titanium dioxide for the white) or inorganic pigments (iron oxide for the black) within electronically charged polymers – one positive and the other negative. By placing them in a cell which sustains an adjustable electric current, the charge-triggered coloured particles come up to the surface of the cell and are revealed through light reflection. When one superimposes 2 cells, one can display each colour alternatively or simultaneously, so as to combine them. To achieve
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the full colour spectrum, 4 cells would need to be superimposed, combining in pairs the three primal colours, as well as black and white. Now that the team has managed the particles’ colouring and charging stages, all they need to do is to go through extensive testing of the new tool. This should be achieved by the end of 2011; by then, Georges Hadziioannou should have finished setting up his laboratory. The colour electronic book is only one step: made with polymers, it should eventually become flexible and printable like its paper ancestor or like the translucent solar panels also being elaborated by the LCPO. Books, newspapers, billboards: the applications are endless. * LCPO: Organic Polymer Chemistry Laboratory.
Organic Polymer Chemistry Laboratory [ LCPO ]
Transparent electrodes Transparent and conductive electrodes are used in the manufacturing of TV screens: they are made with indium, whose resources are almost exhausted. That’s why the LCPO researchers seek a manufacturing process based on “combined” polymers such as multi-partitioned carbon nanotubes presenting conductive properties. Attracting ambitious projects In less than 2 years, Georges Hadziioannou’s laboratory has been associated with 5 ANR projects. Among them, the Magniphico project aims to organize data using magnetism and to eventually stock one terabyte on just 1 square cm, a feat it has already confirmed in theory.
Rewarding excellence The university chair financed by the Aquitaine region and the Arkema company allowed the investment of 2 million euros for equipment and infrastructure. The Regional council will be devoting 200,000 euros per year over 5 years.
Organic Polymer Chemistry Laboratory [ LCPO ] UMR 5629 - CNRS Bordeaux Polytechnic Institut Bordeaux 1 University Talence www.lcpo.fr
MADE IN Aquitaine research 10 portraits of research - Edition 2010
Cap Sciences publication - Editing: Donatien Garnier - Translation: Mickael Appourchaux - Photos: Frédéric Desmesure - Graphic design and realisation: Lisa Morand
Colour electronic newspapers
“ Protect in a global economy
workers, consumers
and the environment
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Centre for Comparative Labour Law and Social Security
Isabelle Daugareilh is a legal research specialist in the Comptrasec laboratory: for the last 10 years she has studied the legal framework in which transnational firms develop. With her team, she browses through international law seeking sometimes ancient texts allowing to prosecute those companies that disregard human rights or damage the environment. an transnational corporations escape all liability ? Those giant firms developed from the 1980’s to the 2000’s, taking advantage of massive deregulation and generalization of free trade policies to scatter their industrial activities in countries with low social and environmental protection systems. They seem to be operating within a vast legal void making any prosecution impossible. However, Isabelle Daugareilh’s research has shown that void may not be that impenetrable. Both the International Labour Organisation and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development have adopted texts (which are not binding, yet are updated on a regular basis) creating a set of guidelines or rules of conduct for transnational companies; a kind of “soft law” which may give birth to future legal norms.
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Besides, companies themselves are progressively adopting “social responsibility” codes. This concept was invented in the USA in 1953 and it is developing in companies based in the USA, the UK and Asia on the one hand and in Europe on the other. The former have adopted strictly unilateral norms, but some European countries have agreed to engage in negotiations with trade unions or NGOs. They even agreed to go through evaluation procedures with possible sanctions. This process is very similar to the one that led to the creation of social rights in the USA in the last century.
Centre for Comparative Labour Law and Social Security [Comptrasec]
Drawback The forthcoming endorsement of the ISO 26000 private standard outlining the social responsibility of companies should have been good news. But as a specialist, Isabelle Daugareilh pointed out its limitations and particularly the lack of any certification that would set it apart from other standards. In this regard, it is a drawback from previous advances in Europe. Landmark book The young researcher from Bordeaux is a pioneer in her field; in 2010 she published a book which stands as an international reference: it examines the liability of transnational companies in the global economy. A transdisciplinary and collective effort, the book presents testimonies from 32 world-wide specialists (jurists, economists and sociologists).
Further developments The Regional council invested 240,000 euros in the project, including 127,000 euros for a thesis and a 1-year post-PhD salary: this should help develop our appraisal of these issues, especially regarding the setting up of standards and norms. This initiative takes up on the European program that had originally launched research on social responsibility.
Centre for Comparative Labour Law and Social Security [Comptrasec] UMR 5114 - CNRS Montesquieu Bordeaux IV University Pessac http://comptrasec.u-bordeaux4.fr
MADE IN Aquitaine research * Comptrasec : Centre for Comparative Labour Law and Social Security.
10 portraits of research - Edition 2010
Cap Sciences publication - Editing: Donatien Garnier - Translation: Mickael Appourchaux - Photos: Frédéric Desmesure - Graphic design and realisation: Lisa Morand
Transnational companies: putting an end to no-law zones?
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if oil prospection could help prehistory?”
And what
PACEA from Prehistory to the Present : Culture, Environment and Anthropology
By mixing a cultural approach with hard sciences like biology, geology or genetics, the School of Prehistoric Studies of Bordeaux 1 University is one of the oldest and most recognized worldwide. Thanks to some exceptional sites in the area and regularly producing iconoclast results, it attracts students and researchers from the best universities.
ibrator trucks square out the desert sending seismic waves through the ground. It's the usual procedure for identifying geological layers containing oil, but a potential disaster for all the archeological sites. Aware of this threat, the firm Total has linked with Bordeaux 1 University to establish a protection and scientific investigation program over a huge part of the Mauritanian Sahara destined for oil exploration. JeanGuillaume Bordes, from the PACEA* laboratory, approached the multinational to help spread this work, linking with scientists from other universities, oil engineers and containing a section on raising the awareness of the local population. This request was accepted and the project was given the scientific means, in particular for
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dating, to enable them to apply a consistent method for the 2,500 sites found during the year and a half campaign. Amongst these, fossil lake bottoms, with remains of disappeared animal species, and even prehistoric human remains, in zones where it was thought that the desert erosions made it impossible to exhume such ancient remains. One hopes that with the exceptional results of this inaugural operation, this method will become common practice for oil companies. A publication on the experiment as a whole is planned for early 2012.
* PACEA: from Prehistory to the Present :Culture, Environment and Anthropology.
From Prehistory to the Present: Culture, Environment and Anthropology [PACEA]
Around Lascaux Until now there were no human remains from the Solutrean culture, dating back 20,000 years and made famous by the Lascaux caves. But this changed drastically in 2010 with the carbon dating of 52 small pieces of skull exhumed on the Piage site in the Lot by Jean-Guillaume Bordes' team. These were found in an alcove of the rock face and would indicate some kind of funeral gesture, an act only known about in much more recent cultures. Neanderthal: the end of a myth? By reconstituting the silex blocs with the cutting instruments found on the Piage site and by dating them precisely, Jean-Guillaume Bordes was able to demonstrate the existence of an intermediary culture between Neanderthal and the modern man. The identification of 4% of common genes between the two groups of Homo sapiens has recently confirmed this result.
Excavations The Aquitaine region supports the work of Jean-Guillaume Bordes' team at Piage, a site that has become a model as much for its scientific scale (26 researchers from 11 laboratories worldwide) as for the efforts to sensitize the population and the local agents. The Aquitaine region granted 230,000 to this project over 2007 and 2008.
PACEA Laboratory UMR 5199 - CNRS Bordeaux 1 University Talence www.pacea.u-bordeaux1.fr
MADE IN Aquitaine research 10 portraits of research - Edition 2010
Cap Sciences publication - Editing: Donatien Garnier - Translation: Mickael Appourchaux - Photos: FrĂŠdĂŠric Desmesure - Graphic design and realisation: Lisa Morand
From the Lot to Mauritania
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nano-vehicle to fight cancer � Natural and Artifical Regulations Laboratory
The main activity of the Supramolecular Assembly group, which is directed by Philippe Barthélémy at the Inserm, lies in synthesizing new molecules with nucleic acid like DNA, very high in informational contents, and lipids endowed with remarkable self-organizational properties. This is fundamental work aimed at researching new medicines. t can poison but it saves lives. Cisplatin is a recognized molecule in the treatment of certain cancers – cancer of the ovaries, for example. The Nanova Pharma project carried out by Philippe Barthélémy has used this active principle to attempt an increase in the efficiency of the medicine whilst reducing its toxicity. How ? By making a hybrid molecule that can carry the cisplatin all the way through to the tumor, a kind of nano-vehicle that resists the intrabody navigation traps and difficult conditions (the high temperature of the human body, antibodies...), a Trojan horse capable to foil the various cellular barriers so as to enter the tumorous cells and deposit its lethal load. These nanoparticles made from chimeric molecules called nucleolipids have already
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shown their efficiency in various ways: they increase the anticancer activity in a spectacular way thanks to their ability to carry the active principle in a very concentrated state; and this notably on cellular lines renowned for being resistant to cisplatin. Biologically programmed to reach their target, they disperse less into the body and are therefore less harmful. These first results have proved very competitive compared with contending approaches and should bring these nanoparticles on the market, through the creation of a new company and a new medical treatment in 2015. By then, the vehicle's efficiency will have improved further.
Natural and Artifical Regulations Laboratory [ ARNA ]
International conference Every other year the Supramolecular Assembly group organizes the SupraBio conference with themes that reflect its uniqueness: supramolecular constructions of course, but also bio-imagery, new active molecule research on new therapeutic targets, nanotechnology impact evaluation on human toxicity and on the environment.
Two salaries The regional council supports Philippe Barthélémy's group allowing him to acquire performing equipment but also substantial human means. The Region finances 200,000 euros per year for the salaries of a PhD student and a post-doc.
From a gel to the cells In an article published towards the end of 2009 in the Chemical Communications journal, the Supramolecular Assembly group was able to demonstrate that it was possible to vehicle a nucleic acid, trapped in a matrix nanostructured in the shape of a gel, through human cells. A result obtained with human cells cultivated on this matrix gel in nanotubes.
ARNA Laboratory Unité 869 - INSERM-IECB Bordeaux 2 University Bordeaux http://www.iecb.u-bordeaux.fr/ arna_u869
MADE IN Aquitaine research 10 portraits of research - Edition 2010
Cap Sciences publication - Editing: Donatien Garnier - Translation: Mickael Appourchaux - Photos: Frédéric Desmesure - Graphic design and realisation: Lisa Morand
Supra-molecular engineering to serve medicine
“ for ecology friendly housing When science caters
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Napevomo
The Napevomo* project which is coordinated by Philippe Lagière and links up firms, an engineering school and researchers from Aquitaine, set itself apart at the Solar Decathlon in Madrid. This highly popular international competition rewards the most innovative and performing solar houses in term of energy-saving and eco-friendliness.
n elegant high-tech wooden construction has sprung up on the Arts et Métiers school esplanade in Talence. In its field it's quite a star. It was named Napevomo and it shone at the Solar Decathlon in Madrid. Napevomo, led by Nobatek, the Arts et Métiers and the TREFLE laboratory (Fluid Energy-Saving Flow Transfers) won five prizes, including the much sought-after sustainable development prize. This was achieved thanks to its unique inbuilt power station (operating with earthworms). Once sanitized, the wastewater is re-used on the building's planted sections. This method of recycling has a further purpose as the covering plants on the walls and roof are also climate dampers: this makes the house more
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comfortable and enhances the efficiency of the solar concentrator on the roof. This efficient facility that is programmed to follow the sun's trajectory was especially noticed for its unique ability to simultaneously produce the necessary electricity and hot water for the running of the house. Another promising innovation was a heat exchanger and cooler system made with paraffin-based phase changing materials that is able to store and render heat on demand. With this system it was possible to maintain a constant temperature of 23°C when the outdoor temperatures varied between 12°C at night and 38°C in the daytime (this was early summer in Madrid) ! * Napevomo : “I feel good” in Cheyenne.
Napevomo
Plant welding Usually, once cut, the Landes pine is dried and treated. Then any defective areas are removed and it is shaped into parts and assembled. Used for the first time ever on the Napevomo house project, the Aboutage Bois Vert (Green wood jointing) process treats the timber only after it has been assembled. This way the parts weld together naturally. Resource Centre The NOBATEK technological resource centre based in Anglet and Talence helps professionals concerned with sustainable housing and engineering. Thanks to its privileged connections with laboratories in Aquitaine, it can offer them a wide range of technical solutions derived from the latest scientific breakthroughs. This innovative model has been exported to Chili, Syria and Quebec.
A regional collective effort The Napevomo project brought together numerous innovative companies based in Aquitaine, like Exosun (who are famous for their solar tracking systems), Sun H20, Ouateco (who produce eco-friendly insulators) or Vertige, who manufacture planted roofs. The region granted Napevomo 155,000 euros.
Napevomo Talence http://www.napevomo.com
MADE IN Aquitaine research 10 portraits of research - Edition 2010
Cap Sciences publication - Editing: Donatien Garnier - Translation: Mickael Appourchaux - Photos: Frédéric Desmesure - Graphic design and realisation: Lisa Morand
Sustainable house Oscar
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Printing cells to make organs � Biomaterials and Tissue Repair Unit
Bioprinting is a pioneer sector aiming to create human tissue and organs. The TEAL* team led by Fabien Guillemot has developed its own high-resolution laser technology and is among the first in Europe to explore this new field. Thanks to the team’s latest advances, within the next couple of years it may become possible to print skin cells.
n the late 1980’s a team of American researchers attempted to replace the ink in a printer with proteins: this uncanny experiment proved successful, yet it wasn’t followed up until the turn of the millennium. The concept was then taken up again with modified printers, syringe driver systems or more recently in Bordeaux, with a very innovative laser device: cells in culture are laid on a translucent disk covered with a thin layer of gold or titanium. The laser beam is focused on that “cartridge”, causing the projection of microdroplets unto a biocompatible surface. Because it is possible to simultaneously load in the machine cartridges holding different cells and then to alternate them in front of the beam, one can reproduce
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very simple living tissue in 2D, to test drugs for instance. But in order to print larger objects one had to gear the system up to 3 dimensions. Cells have a limited capacity for self-organisation and therefore the trick was to lay them out very precisely in the 3D space and then to make them coherent as a whole. The TEAL team solved the first riddle by superimposing the effected patterns onto several biocompatible sheets: the tissue was regenerated, one cell layer after another. The functionality of the whole remained to be achieved. This may be done by combining printing with other laser processes, like micro-manufacturing and photo-activation. * Tissue Engineering Assisted by Laser.
Biomaterials and Tissue Repair Unit
In vivo printing In 2010, the TEAL team researchers achieved a world first by repairing cranium fractures on living mice. This was done by printing in situ nanoparticles of the hydroxyapatite, a mineral well-known for facilitating the mending of bone tissue. Let them grow Instead of reproducing completed and complex organs by “duplicating” the sections obtained through medical imagery, the TEAL team now work on a promising lead: to manufacture non-matured organs thanks to stem cell patterns and then to let them develop.
High capacity In 2011, the Aquitaine region will contribute 120,000 euros to finance the construction of a more advanced automated tool using the femtosecond (10-15s) laser technology, which will print up to several million microdroplets per second.
Biomaterials and Tissue Repair Unit Unit 577 - CNRS Bordeaux 2 University Bordeaux http://www.teal.u-bordeaux2.fr
MADE IN Aquitaine research 10 portraits of research - Edition 2010
Cap Sciences publication - Editing: Donatien Garnier - Translation: Mickael Appourchaux - Photos: Frédéric Desmesure - Graphic design and realisation: Lisa Morand
Lasers that duplicate the living
“
A
platform to estimate
the toxicity of tomorrow’s
nanomaterials ”
Interdisciplinary Applications of Ion Beams in the Aquitaine Region Platform
With a high performance particle accelerator in terms of brightness of the beam and stability in energy, the CENBG**'s AIFIRA* platform puts to the use of academic research and companies, tools that place it in the front rank worldwide for micro and nanoscopic scale chemical analysis and the study of radiation impact on the living.
t's a kind of five-armed octopus with the head being the particle accelerator and the tentacles being the different lines where the light ion beams, protons or alpha particles are focalized. One of these tentacles, or rather its base, attracts special attention. It's a white granite monolith that rests on a concrete slab stabilized by stakes that are sunk 18 meters underground. In this manner, a beam that's focalized in a section reduced to 200 nanometres can reach its target without being deviated by vibrations. This ''nanobeam'' line makes it possible to scan a sample and, after analysing the radiation emitted during the impact, to give a high-resolution image of its chemical composition and of the spatial distribution of its constituents. This is so pre-
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cise that it is possible to locate the nanoparticles within the studied tissue. This is how the group led by Philippe Moretto, platform director, was able to highlight the fact that titanium oxide which is used in sunscreen cream doesn't exceed the skin's stratum corneum. The importance of this result is underlined by a new publication from the laboratory; penetration of titanium nanoparticles into human skin cells modifies their metabolism of an important cell messenger: calcium. Broadening research to a living organism, a worm to witness the effects of human activity on the environment, will enable a more in-depth toxicology study.
Interdisciplinary Applications of Ion Beams in the Aquitaine Region Platform [AIFIRA]
Intracellular ballistics On the platform, the targeted radiation line is equally front-rank equipment. There are only seven in the world. It doesn't only enable the radiation, one ion at a time, of each cell, but also to choose which part of the cell, the nucleus, or the cytoplasm, one wants to expose, then to follow that cell's response mechanisms with time. Very weak dose radiation Thanks to the targeted radiation line, Philippe Moretto's group is developing its knowledge of very weak dose radiation. Totally new, the collected data will be very useful for evaluating the impact of exposure to the environment as well as the action mechanism of the ions used in future cancer therapy techniques.
A constant support It's the 2000-2006 State/Region plan agreement that enabled the releasing of the 2.7 million euros needed to create the platform in partnership with the CNRS (National Centre for Scientific Research) and the University Bordeaux 1. Since the, the Region Council founded new equipments (360,000 euros) for AIFIRA.
AIFIRA Platform Centre for Nuclear Studies Bordeaux Gradignan Gradignan http://www.cenbg.in2p3.fr
*AIFIRA: Interdisciplinary Applications of Ion Beams in the Aquitaine Region.
MADE IN Aquitaine research
** CENBG: Centre for Nuclear Studies Bordeaux Gradignan.
10 portraits of research - Edition 2010
Cap Sciences publication - Editing: Donatien Garnier - Translation: Mickael Appourchaux - Photos: FrĂŠdĂŠric Desmesure - Graphic design and realisation: Lisa Morand
High-precision ion beams
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ince 1998, the Aquitaine region has favoured intelligence and innovation with pro-active policies taking on three challenges: research, employment in industry and equal opportunities. With 10 % of its budget, it stands as the leading region in France for the financing of research, post-graduate studies and technology transfer.
This dynamics is certainly partly responsible for the “Towards a New University Model” project to have made it in the final 10 in the national Campus operation.
In 2007, the structuring of universities and research led to the setting up of a Research and Post-graduate Studies Pole, the “University of Bordeaux PRES”, thanks to the combined efforts of its eight founding members, four Bordeaux universities and four engineering schools.
It is precisely by encouraging a campus spirit that the University of Bordeaux aims to strengthen its position in Aquitaine, to develop interactions between Sciences and Society, and finally to increase its exposure both nationally and internationally.
A dynamic regional policy and the reorganisation of research in specialised sectors and centres of excellence have turned Aquitaine into an attractive location for scientific and technological development, as the arrivals of both INRIA and Sup Optique on the Bordeaux Campus bear witness.
These portraits illustrate the wealth and diversity of scientific projects developed in our region and reveal the unending creativity of these devoted researchers, all leaders in their field. Alain Rousset, president of the Regional Council
Conseil régional d’Aquitaine Direction de la recherche et du transfert de technologie 14, rue François-de-Sourdis – 33077 Bordeaux www.aquitaine.fr
Cap Sciences Hangar 20 – Quai de Bacalan - 33300 Bordeaux www.cap-sciences.net