BioImaging & OptoFluidics
The BioImaging & OptoFluidics Lab (BiOf Lab)
Our lab has developed a microfluidics-assisted technique, the Cellular Capsule Technology (CCT) that enables to encapsulate cells and grow organoids or tumor models within a shell of porous hydrogel.
The CCT is based on a co-extrusion micro-device fabricated with a 3D printer. The working principle consists in injecting an alginate solution and the cell suspension in concentric capillaries to generate a composite liquid jet. Exploiting the Rayleigh-Plateau instability that fragments the jet into microdroplets, we produce spherical capsules upon alginate crosslinking in a calcium bath. Inhibiting the Rayleigh-Plateau instability leads to the formation of tubular capsules.
Quantitative imaging of the growth of the organoids using state-of-the art optical sectioning microscopy and analyzing the cellular fate using custom optofluidic devices allow us to investigate both fundamental mechanotransduction issues in stem cell biology and self-organization processes involved in tissue engineering, and to explore biomedical applications, in particular in oncology and neurodegenerative diseases.
Part of our work is now transferred to industry through the creation of a start-up by two post-doctoral fellows (TreeFrog Therapeutics).
Current group members
- Pierre Nassoy, CNRS Research DIrector
- Gaëlle Recher, CNRS Researcher
- Amaury Badon, CNRS Researcher
- Adeline Boyreau, Engineer
- Camille Douillet, Postdoctoral Scientist
- Naveen Vijayan Mekhileri, Postdoctoral Scientist
- Aymeric Bazin, PhD student
- Aurélien Richard, PhD student
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