People

Florence GAZEAU – Researcher (CNRS) – florence.gazeau@u-paris.fr

Florence Gazeau (Physicist, senior CNRS researcher, 52 years old, female) received her PhD in solid state physics from Université Paris Diderot in 1997. She is CNRS researcher since 1998 and senior researcher (DR1) since 2016. Since 2016, she is deputy director of Matière et Systèmes Complexes Lab, gathering more than 160 peoples at the interface of Physics, Biology, Chemistry and Environment. She has created in 2019 and still animate the MSC Med antenna dedicated to medical translational research and bioengineering innovation on the Campus Saint Germain site, regrouping about 40 peoples from different disciplines, together with 2 spin-off companies and the expertise platform IVETh dedicated to extracellular vesicles and nanovectors. She is author of 180 international publications in high impact factor interdisciplinary journal (ACS Nano, PNAS, Nanoletters, JACS, Biomaterials, Radiology, Advanced Materials, Advanced Functional Materials, ELife, Magnetic Resonance in Medicine …) with more than 15 000 citations and a factor h of 63 (https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=fr&pli=1&user=shPWptkAAAAJ) ou (Orcid 0000-0002-6482-3597). She is co-inventor of 8 patent applications, 4 of which have been licensed to spin-off companies EVerZom and EVORA Bioscience, from which she is scientific adviser and co-founder, respectively. She gave more than 50 invited talks at conferences. Her work has established an internationally recognised research group in biomedical applications of nanoparticles (Cell tracking by MRI, Magnetic and photothermal therapy, tissue engineering), nanotoxicology, life cycle and long term fate of inorganic nanoparticles, nanometrology, mecanobiology of cancer and drug delivery and regenerative medecine with biological or bioinspired vesicles. She has been involved in 5 european projects (FP7,H2020 collaborative, Fet Open, MSCA Doctoral Network starting in 23) and more than 20 national projects (ANR, Anses, Sesame IDF, Sesame PIA Filière, INCA, IdEX UParis, LabEX Seam, ITMO Cancer, MITI CNRS, Prematuration CNRS and UPCité…).

Amanda SILVA BRUN – Researcher (CNRS) – amanda.brun@u-paris.fr

Amanda K. A. Silva (Pharmacist, CNRS researcher, 38 years old, female) obtained a PhD on Pharmaceutical Technology in 2008 and a second PhD in Cellular and Molecular Biology in 2010. In 2013, Amanda obtained a tenured CNRS researcher position in France. She works at Laboratoire Matière et Systèmes Complexes (MSC, UMR 7057) at Université Paris Cité, mainly focusing on high-performance approaches for (i) extracellular vesicle (EV) production based on a turbulent flow stimulation directly in bioreactors; (ii) EV loading for anti-tumor therapy as well as (iii) EV administration in a hydrogel for regenerative medicine (fistula therapy and esophageal stricture prevention). This research set the basis and the patent portfolio (4 licensed patent applications) for founding 2 spin-offs: EverZom (a bio-production start-up – 16 employees) and Evora Bioscience (a biotherapy start-up – 6 employees). Amanda actively contributes to them as chief scientific officer (CSO). Amanda was awarded the CNRS Innovation Medal in 2021 and “Prix des innovateurs en santé” from Région Île-de-France in 2020. Amanda is the Vice-President of the French Society for Nanomedicine (SFNano). Amanda has recently launched and co-coordinated the group “Extracellular Vesicle translatiOn to clinicaL perspectiVEs – EVOLVE France” together with a clinician colleague to address regulatory issues on EV-based biotherapies. Amanda coordinates with Ariel Lindner the associative project DIM Bioconvergence pour la Santé (12.5 M€) structuring and accelerating innovation on bioproduction, biotherapies and synthetic biology at Region Ile de France. Amanda published 67 papers. Her current research projects on EV bioengineering are funded by an ERC grant (1.5 M€) and by the Grand défi Biomédicament grant (1.4 M€) she coordinates.

Sonia BECHAREF – CIFRE PhD candidate at « Laboratoire Matière et systèmes complexes » and the compagny « Nanobactérie »

My career is a bit special. I was trained as a biologist and obtained a BTS in biotechnology followed by a batchelor degree in Bioinformatics in apprenticeship with the compagny Sanofi (Marcy-l’Etoile). After obtaining my degree, I worked as a technician at the Gustave Roussy Institute for 3 years. During this professional experience I developed my skills in cellular biology, molecular biology and animal experimentation. 3 years later, I decided to continue my studies with a Master’s degree in biology, health and ecology at the « Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes », still working in apprenticeship at Sanofi (Vitry-sur-Seine). Wishing to continue working in the pharmaceutical industry, I continued my studies in a CIFRE thesis with the company « Nanobactérie » and the laboratory MSC-Med. I am currently working on cholangiocarcinoma, a biliary tract cancer highly resistant to chemotherapy and immunotherapy due to the presence of a dense collagen matrix produced by cancer associated fibroblasts (CAFs). First, the objective of my work is to use nanoparticles with heating properties when activated with an excitation source to destroy the collagen matrix.

Mahshid Hashemkhani – Postdoc Researcher

I am an interdisciplinary scientist working in the field of Materials Science, Chemistry, biology, and medicine.

I got my PhD at Koc University and did a one-year postdoc there. My research was focused mainly on the combinational therapy of cancer (image-guided chempotherapy as well as photodynamic/photothermal therapy) using Ag-based quantum dots. At MSC-Med, I am working on utilization of different Ag2S quantum dots as a nanothermometer to visualize the cells and monitor the fate of nanoparticles in the cells over time as well as utilize them as a therapeutic agent (photothermal therapy). In addition, the mechanisms of action of nanoparticles in the cells along with the biodistribution of them in 3D cell culture and in vivo models will be studied.

Gregory LAVIEU – Researcher (INSERM) – gregory.lavieu@inserm.fr 

Grégory Lavieu, cell biologist expert in membrane trafficking.

G. Lavieu is currently an INSERM researcher, at the head of ERL U1316, holder of a Chair of Excellence from Paris Cité University, and conducts his research in the UMR7057 / MSC laboratory.

Previously, he identified and characterized a new mode of transport dedicated to the trafficking of macromolecules within the Golgi apparatus, an intracellular sorting station.

More recently, G. Lavieu and his research group have undertaken to characterize at the cellular and molecular levels the intercellular transport mediated by extracellular vesicles (exosomes) and to identify the machinery essential to this cellular function.

Jean-Marc DI MEGLIO–Professor (Université de Paris) – jean-marc.dimeglio@univ-paris-diderot.fr

Graduated from ESPCI, Jean-Marc Di Meglio obtained a PhD in physical sciences at the Pierre-et-Marie-Curie University in 1984 studying microemulsions and films of surfactant molecules using ESR. He then worked on colloidal crystals at the ExxonMobil research center as a research assistant at the University of Pennsylvania before joining the CNRS in 1985 as a research fellow in the laboratory of Pierre-Gilles de Gennes at the Collège de France where he studied wetting and capillary phenomena. In 1994, he was appointed professor of physics at the University of Strasbourg and researcher at the Charles Sadron Institute. He is interested in soap films, bubbles, foams, granular matter, polymer physics, colloids and vesicles (experimental soft matter). Since 2002, he has been a professor at Paris Diderot University (now University of Paris) where he was the first director of the Complex Matter and Systems laboratory (MSC) from 2005 to 2009. He now focuses his research on biomechanics and more precisely in the MSC-med lab on the:
– study of the locomotion of nematode worms versus age and environment;
– micromanipulation of biopolymers using AFM;
– development of frugal physics instrumentation, in particular for the behavioral analysis of mice and worms.

Stéphanie MANGENOT–Professor (Université de Paris) – stephanie.mangenot@u-paris.fr

Trained as a physicist, I am now a biophysicist working at the interface of physic and biology. During my Phd in Orsay, (Lab. de Physique des solides; F. livolant), and my post doc in Munich (LMU, LS Raedler), I was mainly interested in understanding the organisation of dense DNA either in bacteriophage or in Eucaryotic nucleus. I have by appointed Assistant professor, at the University of Orsay, where I was interested in understanding the dense phase of isolated nucleosome core particle and chromatin using in vitro approaches. I then joined, the Curie Institut, Laboratoire Physico Chimie Curie, were I started new research subjects. I first studied the conformation of membrane proteins with AFM and scattering technics and then I studied membrane trafficking. Since 2020, I joined, the MSCmed lab, where I start new research subject focusing on understanding the uptake of EV by the host cell. During all my research subjects, I always used in vitro systems, which allows a precise control of all the important physical parameters.

Hugo SALMON – Assistant professor (Université de Paris) – hugo.salmon@parisdescartes.fr

I am Assistant Professor of Physics at Paris University and a (bio)physicist working at interface between physics, engineering and biology. I did my PhD in Laboratoires de Photonique et Nanostructures (now C2N) on magnetic microrobot on chip then my postdocs in Mignet group at Faculté de Pharmacie of Université Paris Descartes and Tabrizian group at Faculty of Biomedical Engineering of McGill University in Canada where I developed on chip method to characterize biotherapeutics and nanomedicines. My research work is dedicated to study the interaction between living matter and nanoparticles with a biophysics angle taking advantage of on-chip engineering and analytical techniques. My current research is hosted at MSC and T3S. I focus on the interplay between sub-cellular vesicles and neurological matter and use this knowledge to explore both fundamental and therapeutical aspects.

Alice NICOLAÏ – Assistant professor (Université de Paris) – alice.nicolai@u-paris.fr

I am interested in interdisciplinary research, at the interface between biomedical sciences and applied mathematics, especially in probabilistic and statistical modeling.
I mainly studied applied mathematics at the university. Then, I did a PhD [http://www.theses.fr/s213308] (Laboratoire Centre Borelli, Saclay – France) on biosignals representation for medical longitudinal follow-up, and worked particularly in the quantification of postural control for the prevention of falls and frailty in older adults. At MSC-Med, I am an assistant professor working on the multimodal characterization of extracellular vesicles, to use them as biomarker or in therapies. I focus on data analysis, statistical modeling and programming.

Kelly AUBERTIN – Research Engineer – Scientific chief advisor (Université de Paris) – kelly.aubertin@u-paris.fr

I am a (bio)physicist working at the interface of physics, biology and medicine.
I did a PhD [lien to thesis] (Laboratoire MSC [http://www.msc.univ-paris-diderot.fr/], Paris – France) and a second postdoc (Goetz Lab [https://www.goetzlab.fr/], Strasbourg – France) in Cell Mechanics looking at the robustness of intracellular trafficking and the relation between viscoelasticity and cancer treatment and progression. I did my first postdoc in biomedical imaging using Raman spectroscopy as a diagnostic tool for prostate cancer (CRCHUM [https://www.chumontreal.qc.ca/crchum/chercheurs/frederic-leblond], LRO [ https://lroinnovation.com/] Montréal – Canada). At MSC-Med, I’m the scientific chief advisor of the IVETh facility [https://iveth.u-paris.fr] focused on the production, the engineering, and the characterization of extracellular vesicles. Within the facility, I’m also in charge of developing the biomolecular characterization of extracellular vesicles using Raman spectroscopy.

Sarah RAZAFINDRAKOTO – Engineer (Université de Paris) – sarah.razafindrakoto@u-paris.fr

I am a biologist working at the interface of biology, chemistry and nanomedicine.

I did a Master degree in Integrative physiopathology, working on degradation of magnetic nanoparticles in mouse tissues and pancreatic tumor tissues (Laboratoire MSC, Paris – France). For my final year internship, I worked on the optimization of stem cell culture on microcarriers for the extracellular vesicles production (EVerZom, Paris – France). I also worked on the isolation of extracellular vesicles by Tangantial Flow Filtration. At MSC-Med, I’m a biological engineer focused in the cell culture, the production and the isolation of extracellular vesicles. I am involved as well in the IVETh facility for the characterization of extracellular vesicles.

Giulio AVVEDUTO– PhD Student (supervisors: Florence Gazeau) 

I am a physicist and nanotech engineer studying the dynamics of nanomaterials at the interface of biological environment.I concluded my Master in Nanotechnologies for ICT at Politecnico di Torino (IT) and a master in Quantum Devices at Paris VII with a thesis on multifunctional nanovector for drug delivery remotely activated.
I am currently studying the fate of metallic and non-metallic nanomaterials in biological environment (in vivo/ in vitro) focusing maining on the central role of lysosomal sequestration and lysosomal stress induced by the accumulation and long term persistence. Given the multidisciplinary background I developed, I combine cutting edge techniques (such as HRTEM, Raman Microscopy) for biological purposes with innovative approaches.

Margaux GLEIZES – PhD Student (supervisors: Florence Gazeau, Corrine Sagne [SPINN]) – margaux.gleizes@parisdescartes.fr

I am a former student of ESPCI Paris engineering school and École Polytechnique (M2 Biomechanics). I did my M2 internship in MSC Med Lab, working on the development of analysis and separation method for extracellular vesicles with AF4 (Asymmetric Flow Field-Flow Fractionation).
I started my PhD in October 2021 under the supervision of Florence GAZEAU (MSC Med, Paris – France) and Corinne SAGNÉ (SPPIN, Paris, France). I am working on extracellular vesicle-based cell therapy of two forms of Neuronal Ceroid Lipofuscinoses (NCL). NCL are inherited neurodegenerative disorders sharing common symptoms like blindness, progressive motor and cognitive decline and premature death. At the cellular level, accumulation of an autofluorescent pigment is observed in lysosomes of neurons and other cell types. Two NCLs result from mutations in genes coding for integral proteins of the lysosomal membrane, CLN3 and CLN7. The function of these two proteins is unknown and there is no curative treatment of these two diseases.
During my PhD, I will evaluate the possibility to cure these two diseases by cell therapy with extracellular vesicles loaded with CLN3 and CLN7 wild-type proteins. Furthermore, extracellular vesicles from mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) have been shown to cross the blood brain barrier. Thus MSC-derived extracellular vesicles could be a vector of choice to deliver integral membrane proteins to neurons.

Alice GRANGIER – PhD Student (supervisors: Amanda Silva Brun, Claire Wilhelm, Florence Gazeau) – alice.grangier@univ-paris-diderot.fr

I am currently a fourth year doctoral student at MSC-Med, under the supervision of Amanda K. A. Silva, Claire Wilhelm and Florence Gazeau. My research focuses on the scale-up of extracellular vesicles (EVs) production and adapting the laboratory’s proprietary manufacturing method to non-adherent cells. In this context, I also contributed to the development of the first academic platform in France devoted to EV production, characterization and engineering for personalized therapies, the IVETh facility [link to IVETh’s website], by implementing cutting-edge technologies for the characterization of EVs, including asymmetric flow field-flow fractionation.

Léa JABBOUR – PhD Student (supervisors: Florence Gazeau, Nathalie Luciani, Amanda Silva Brun) – lea.jabbour@u-paris.fr

I am currently a fourth year doctoral student at MSC-Med, under the supervision of Amanda K. A. Silva, Claire Wilhelm and Florence Gazeau. My research focuses on the scale-up of extracellular vesicles (EVs) production and adapting the laboratory’s proprietary manufacturing method to non-adherent cells. In this context, I also contributed to the development of the first academic platform in France devoted to EV production, characterization and engineering for personalized therapies, the IVETh facility [link to IVETh’s website], by implementing cutting-edge technologies for the characterization of EVs, including asymmetric flow field-flow fractionation.

Anna SEBBAGH – PhD student (supervisors: Amanda Silva Brun, Gabriel Rahmi [HEGP])

I am a medical student interested in regenerative medicine and tissue engineering for hepato-gastroenterology applications. During my previous internships, I have worked on a liver-on-a-chip model (Laboratoire BMBI, Compiègne, France) and on microbial interactions in the dysbiosis of inflammatory bowel diseases (Microbiote, Intestin et Inflammation team, CRSA, Paris, France). At MSC-Med, I am working under the supervision of Amanda Silva Brun and Gabriel Rahmi on the development of in vitro and ex vivo potency tests to characterize and compare the potential of extracellular vesicles from different sources for the treatment of inflammatory bowel diseases.

Sylvain CAM – Engineer

I am a biotechnology engineer interested in regenerative medicine and applications of microfabrication technologies to biological sciences.
I graduated from ESPCI Paris as an engineer willing to foster the crosstalk between academical research and industrial applications. I then followed the Life Science Engineering Master at EPFL where I could go deeper on subjects which passionate me such as stem cells, tissue engineering or microfluidics. During my master thesis, in the French start up 4DCell, I developped a spheroid assay by designing hydrogel microwells.
I am now working on the caracterisation and separation of extracellular vesicles to gather a better undertanding of these complex biological objets. I will also invstigate on how vesicles can be loaded with a therapeutic agent in an efficient way.

Huan Chen – PhD student

I am a CSC (China Scholarship Council) scholarship student and I come from China. I am now majoring in (bio)physics. My mentor is Florence Gazeau. I obtained a master’s degree in biomedical engineering from Donghua University, China, during which I published two papers about dendrimers, gold nanoparticles, gene transfection and immunotherapy [https://pubs.rsc .org/en/content/articlelanding/2020/tb/d0tb00678e; https://www.mdpi.com/2079-6374/12/2/71]. At MSC-Med, I focus on the synthesis and characterization of fluorides and their applications in Raman imaging, fluorescence imaging, MR imaging, cell labeling and immunotherapy of T cells.

Sabah MOZAFARI – Neuroscientist

I am a biomedical researcher in the field of neurodegenerative diseases, oligodendrocytes, myelin and human stem cell biology.
I have a clinical background in Nursing-Anesthesia, a master in Medical Physiology (from Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran), a second master and a PhD in Cellular and Molecular Neurosciences (from Sorbonne University, Paris, France). I did my first thesis in adult brain self-repair capacity and my second thesis in central nervous system regeneration by cell therapy. During my first postdoc (at Paris Brain Institute – ICM), I generated humanized animal models using iPS cells to investigate oligodendrocyte pathophysiology in multiple sclerosis (MS). I joined MedDay pharmaceutical company to experience translational research, targeting brain metabolism. My current research activities (at Material and Complex Systems – MSC laboratory, MSC-med department, CNRS, University of Paris) focus on cell-free based biotherapies (via extracellular vesicles and mitochondrial transplantation) for treatment of neurodegenerative diseases with metabolic dysfunction.