Helically coiled filaments are ubiquitous in nature. They are observed at different scales, from molecular to multi-cellular structures, giving them great biological and ecological relevance. When confined under constrained physical space, helical filament leads to the formation of non-linear, multi-stable meandered structures - termed the family of “squeelices”. We have observed helical and “squeelical” behaviors in the filamentous yeast Candida albicans, a benign member of the human microbiota that can turn into one of the most lethal opportunistic fungal pathogens of humans. In this project, we propose an interdisciplinary approach combining genetics, cell biology, biophysics, mechanics and microfluidic tools to provide a comprehensive and mechanistic view of the oscillatory growth of C. albicans hyphae, addressing the biophysical and molecular basis of this phenomenon and deciphering its associated consequences in terms of tissue invasion. We will draw consequences of confined helix models and their possible extensions/refinements for algorithmic decision making in micro-labyrinth navigation. We will actively look for links between tissue invasion and directional decision making abilities to potentially establish a new predictive score for invasion. Overall, we hope to provide a new conceptual toolkit for understanding helical shapes of growing cells and assess whether this generic growth modality represents an evolutionary advantage for invasive filamentous organisms living in complex environments.

The overall objective of CHEMBIOFUN is to explore the fundamental and biotechnological potentials of fungal metabolites in order to understand their environmental impact and provide original bio-based products for pharmaceutical, agronomy and cosmeceutical industry. Fungi are widespread in nature and have conquered nearly every ecological niche. Because they compete with other microbes or animals, fungi have developed numerous survival mechanisms, including the production of chemical mediators which exhibit a wide range of biological activities with potential for various applications in industry, health and agronomy. Although fungi constitute an incredibly and still untapped source of original bioactive compounds, they remain an underexplored group of organisms for such compounds. The study of fungal secondary metabolites is experiencing a revival of interest thanks to numerous scientific advances in biology, chemistry and omics technologies. Therefore, transdisciplinary and integrative approaches to develop new concepts and tools with the aim of deciphering the biosynthesis of fungal compounds, their ecological roles and their environmental impacts are strongly needed. New methods for large-scale production of such promising compounds, using fermentation-based, fossil energy-free and environmentally compatible industrial processes, are also needed. Addressing these major societal challenges requires long-term investment, and thus there is an urgent need to train students that will be capable of implementing multidisciplinary strategies in the future. CHEMBIOFUN goal is thus to be an international PhD programme for highly motivated young scientists, offering to 10 early-stage researchers (ESRs) the opportunity to improve their research and entrepreneurial skills and enhance their career prospects. Support from MRSEI will allow the CHEMBIOFUN consortium to efficiently prepare a grant proposal for the call “HORIZON-MSCA-2022-DN-01”

Critical thinking is at the heart of the latest educational policies. Yet if educational projects multiply, there still exist only very few scientific studies assessing the methods proposed by different stakeholders in education and training. These methods themselves in the norm do not build upon the existing scientific knowledge either. The present project aims at filling this gap by (1) designing and testing the first evidence-based critical thinking training for 8-14 year olds and, thanks to the complementarity of researchers and teachers of different disciplines (2) converging towards a more precise definition of critical thinking and providing a psychometric scale of critical thinking for French-speaking participants (3) testing the educational resources using this new scale in two stages (a qualitative pilot study, a quantitative large-scale study) (4) spreading these resources to institutions and teachers, as well as to the media and the general public.

The objective of the project is to experimentally characterize, analyse, model and simulate the multi-scale dynamics of complex and growing branching random networks. Both analytical and numerical means as well as experimental realizations are used and developed. In a biological context, the growth of the filamentous fungus Podospora anserina will be used as a model, by systematically comparing modeling and experiments. The project brings together the project's biologists, who are specialists in this field, as well as physicists and mathematicians in charge of acquiring and analyzing experimental data and designing the models as well as simulations. On the one hand, we plan to develop the numerical reconstruction of the network, by transforming the raw experimental data into a spatio-temporal graph, the dynamics of which will be included in an efficient labelling of the temporal evolution of the nodes, capable of interpreting anastomosis and branching, and thus of following through time and space a node of the network. By varying the type of constraints applied during model validation, we expect a fine-grained understanding of emergent processes (such as branching) and resilience. NEMATIC aims to provide the scientific community with the experimental, theoretical and numerical data and tools necessary for such analyses. We plan to develop simulations of network growth based on two approaches: -- The first is based on "parsimony of means", while remaining as close as possible to the experimental data to extract the salient parameters driving the morphology of the filamentous network, as well as its dynamics. -- The second is based on probabilistic tools, PDE and PDES, and will aim at a multi-scale description. This yields: i) At the macroscopic level, to a fluid dynamics-type system (advection/reaction/diffusion equations with a memory source term) for the description of the thallus propagation front; ii) At the mesoscopic level with a multi-type stochastic growth-fragmentation model in which each "individual" represents a hypha segment between two branching points of the network, or between a branching point and an apex; iii) At the microscopic/molecular level with the modelling of the aggregation process of molecules generating a branching point by an approach based on Markov chains.

In the context of global warming and decrease of pure water resources, there is an urgent need to find new water sources. Passive condensation of atmospheric water vapor (dew) by radiative cooling is the solution that we will consider in this project. Dew water, mostly ignored until now, could serve as an additional water source, supplementing rain and fog water. A promising approach takes advantage of metamaterials, which can provide a cooling power of 60-100 W/m2. The goal of METAWATER project is to take a major step in radiative cooling and dew water harvesting by designing new types of emitter-condensers based on hierarchical structured surfaces optimizing both radiative cooling and wetting properties. To address this challenging issue, we will implement surface treatment strategies by plasma process to create integrated micropatterned and nanostructured surfaces combining three outstanding characteristics which have never been coupled so far: (i) efficient radiative cooling capacities due to high emissivity in the IR atmospheric window and high reflectivity of the solar spectrum, (ii) adaptive wetting properties (superhydrophilic/superhydrophobic) to nucleate films or drop (iii) a geometry that accelerates drop and film shedding by gravity, before diurnal evaporation. This project will tackle basic questions on the influence of surface treatment upon the efficiency of radiative cooling and water condensation. It also aims exploring the efficiency of this coupled strategy for water harvesting on emitter-condensers under outdoor conditions. In this project, we aim to shed light on the impact of heterogeneous wettability and architectures on the micro-droplets morphology transition, and design high-contrast wettability patterns to improve the performance of condensation yields for water harvesting. Another major breakthrough will be to explore the new opportunities offered by metasurfaces to increase radiative cooling, particularly in terms of condensation time extension during daytime morning and evening under solar radiation. To carry out this study, meta-surfaces will be numerically optimized then fabricated. A radiative chamber will be specially created to study cooling and condensation phenomena in the laboratory. Thanks to an emissivity close to 0.99 combined with tailored wetting properties, we hope obtaining a cooling power of about 100 W/m2 together with doubling the amount of water collected by gravity (currently about 0.1-0.3 l/night/m² on average). Outdoor investigations will be conducted to study the metasurface efficiency under real environmental conditions and to evaluate their sustainability under aggressive weather conditions. An important effort will be made to evaluate the operation of condensers and their ageing in real conditions. The innovative character of METAWATER project lies in the fact that it encompasses a wide range of physical approaches, from surface treatments, wetting hydrodynamics, heat transfer and thermodynamic performances. To our knowledge, this is the only way to achieve an integrated system with high capacity of water harvesting.