We are working on cellular biology issues (single cell and multicellular mechanics, adhesion, motility and tumor escape) with biophysical approaches on models such as embryonic multicellular spheroids, breast and prostate cancer cells, Dictyostelium Discoideum. They also works on membrane physics in the context of biolubrication and sonoporation using supported phospholipids bilayers.
We are involved in both fundamental projects (cell-cell adhesion, collective cell migration, rheological properties of tissues, cell-cell interactions) and applied projects (role of lipid membranes in biolubrication, sonoporation, phenotypic sorting of cancer cells, development of lab-on-a-chips using confined tumor spheroids or cancer cells for drug screening …). More information on our current research project are given in the research page.
Methodological developments
We are also developing original methods such as : 3D traction force microscopy to measure the mechanical forces exerted by crawling cells on their surroundings; microfluidic devices to control cell environment (bulk gradient or cell-substrate detachments assays…); automated cell tracking to study cell motility with large statistics over long times (up to days); compression, microrheological and/or acoustic methods to measure the mechanical properties of tissues.
Contact : Jean Paul RIEU - Institut Lumière et Matière - Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 et CNRS - Bâtiment Brillouin, 43 Boulevard du 11 Novembre - 69622 Villeurbanne Cedex. France - jean-paul.rieu at univ-lyon1.fr - Phone: +33-(0)4 72 43 11 42 - Fax: +33-(0)4 72 43 26 48