The project NatInControl aims to develop a collaborative structure of research and development between the Institute of Ecology and Environmental Sciences of Paris (iEES-Paris) and the SBM group. This association aims to bring together two entities working for many years in their respective sectors on insect pest problems. The iEES-Paris team involved in the project develop fundamental and applied research on biology / physiology of insect pests and the impacts of pesticides on their biology. The SBM group is meanwhile specialized in the development, manufacture and distribution ranges of crop protection products for professionals and individuals. Carried on mutual purpose, the NatInControl project will aim to identify and develop new effective biocontrol solutions on insect pests. The issue is to propose new effective products, environmentally friendly and safe for human to meet various regulatory and societal changes.

The global demand for advanced electrochemical energy storage continues to grow, led by increasingly urgent concerns over environmental impact of fossil fuels and nuclear power plants within the power grid. Mg batteries have attracted much interest as potential power grid storage media, since magnesium is earth-abundant and possesses a high energy density. A crucial requirement for Mg batteries is an electrode material that exhibits Mg2+ intercalation. In general, Mg2+ intercalation is hindered by two-electron redox processes and slow Mg2+ ion diffusion in the solid. In this project, we intend to design Mg2+ intercalation materials by assembling molecular building units in a controlled manner into open frameworks. Both tailored coordination clusters capable of multi-electron redox and rationally designed open channels for Mg2+ diffusion can efficiently contribute to the realization of new Mg2+ intercalation materials. By exploiting the molecular chemist toolbox, the French group (Leader: Rodrigue Lescouëzec) will design novel intercalation compounds, which consist in self-assembled cyanide-based molecular building units. For example the “complex/cluster-as-ligand versus complex/cluster-as-metal” synthetic approach, which have been successfully used in tuning the functionalities of molecular materials will be explored. The Japanese group (Leader: Masashi Okubo) will study the electrochemical Mg2+ intercalation in the novel compounds designed by the French group. The Japanese group has a strong experience in the electrochemical evaluation of the intercalation compounds. This project is fully supported by and will benefit from a strong France-Japan international collaboration where we cooperatively apply the French molecular technology to the Japanese battery technology. The international fusion between molecular chemistry in France and battery technology in Japan will successfully contribute to the development of new research axes in the field of solid state electrochemistry, i.e., Mg2+ intercalation. Furthermore, from a practical application viewpoint, this project could accelerate the development of novel Mg2+ intercalation compounds, leading to the realization of efficient Mg batteries.

Cardiac cell therapy holds a real promise for improving function of the chronically failing myocardium. However, so far, clinical outcomes of patients included in cell therapy trials have not met the expectations raised by the preceding experimental studies. Analysis of the causes for these suboptimal results leads to three major conclusions : (1) repair of scarred myocardium should be best achieved by cells endowed with a cardiomyogenic differentiation potential as cell types used so far clinically (skeletal myoblasts, bone marrow-derived cells, adipose tissue-derived cells) lack the ability to convert into cardiomyocytes; (2) injection-based cell delivery is not satisfactory, primarily because it involves a proteolytic dissociation of the cells which sets the stage for their apoptotic death; and (3) the efficacy of the cell transplant is largely dependent on the engraftment rate which, in turn, requires cells to receive an adequate blood supply to survive. To address these issues, we propose to switch from mere cell therapy to a more composite tissue engineering construct entailing the use of human embryonic stem cell (hESC)-derived cardiac progenitors seeded onto a biocompatible scaffold along with endothelial cells from the same hESC source to provide the necessary trophic support. Although the concept of such a co-seeded patch is not new, a remaining issue is that of the migration of the cells away from the scaffold to colonize the underlying myocardium. The basic objective of this project is to design a patch allowing such a migration with the premise that the patch-derived cells will then improve angiogenesis and heart function, possibly through their coupling with host cardiomyocytes. To achieve this objective, we plan to develop an electrospun nanofibrous collagen-based patch co-seeded with two synergistically cross-talking cell populations originating from the same hESC cell line and differentially pre-committed to yield both cardiac progenitors and endothelial cells. By controlling the porous size and the mechanical and chemical properties of the scaffolds, we will first optimize their suitability for cell loading, cell survival and proliferation before assessing their permissivity with regard to cell migration. We will then optimize the permissivity of this patch with regard to cell migration by physical (pore size), chemical (surface chemistry) and eventually biological (active molecule adjuncts) adjustments. To mimic the future environment of the patch, we will then develop an ex vivo model whereby the patch is put in contact with an epicardial layer obtained during cardiac surgical operations, with the assumption that epicardium-secreted factors may play a key role in driving the patch-bound cells towards the inner layers of the myocardium, keeping the additional intramyocardial delivery of chemoattractants as a back-up solution. The development of this ex vivo model which mimics the cardiac in vivo environment, should allow us to limit unnecessary use of animals and to screen rapidly different parameters to obtain more appropriate cellularized biomaterial for cardiac cell therapy. Following this step, the capacity of the cells to migrate away from this patch and subsequently to enhance function of the chronically infarcted myocardium will ultimately be tested in an in vivo model of permanent coronary artery ligation. To achieve these objectives, we have built a multidisciplinary consortium which involve three laboratories and a company which have expertise in 1) nanotechnology and biomaterial architecture, 2) development of collagen-based biomaterials for clinical use, 3) cardiovascular development and differentiation of hESC towards the cardiac and endothelial lineages, and 4) small and large animal models of myocardial infarction and clinical cell-based trials for cardiovascular repair.

The oceans cover more than 70% of the Earth’s surface, regulate its climate, and sustain living and nonliving resources. With about 1 billion cells per liter, microorganisms are fundamental to the biogeochemical cycles that shape our planet by cycling nutrients ultimately influencing climate on a global scale. A large proportion of these microorganisms have recently been shown to be photoheterotrophs, meaning they can use light to supplement energy requirements, that otherwise would depend on other processes, particularly organic carbon respiration. A group of photoheterotrophic organisms that is particularly abundant in the oceans are proteorhodopsin-containing prokaryotes (PCPs) that use light driven proton pumps to gather light energy as sources of cellular energy. However, despite its significance, the role of photoheterotrophy in the carbon budgets of the oceans is still unknown. RHOMEO is a collaborative project where estimates of diversity and spatio-temporal dynamics of marine PCPs will be combined with physiological studies employing photobioreactors targeting isolated model strains. The overall objective is to gain significant insights on the role of marine proteorhodopsin containing prokaryotes in the ocean. We will apply state-of-the-art molecular techniques to determine the diversity of PCPs at three different sites in the Mediterranean Sea, English Channel and Arctic Ocean, representative of different trophic conditions. Physiological studies will benefit from available unique instrumentation (photobioreactors), and model microbial strains to evaluate light effects in the efficiency of carbon utilization by environmentally abundant organisms. We will identify the PCP strains most appropriate to conduct physiological studies, and will estimate growth efficiency under varying light conditions, and substrate quality. These experiments will allow an estimation of "savings" in carbon respiration allowed by light energy. Combining specific carbon utilization efficiencies to specific environmentally significant strains, the results of field and physiological studies will allow the estimation of the effects of light-driven metabolism in the budget of organic carbon in these marine sites. These results will have a very significant impact in furthering the understanding of the marine carbon cycle, and ultimately in understanding forecasts of future climate. Impacts of the project will be through training of graduate students, publications, and a workshop to be organized at the completion of the project.