Skip to main content
Go to the home page of the European Commission (opens in new window)
English English
CORDIS - EU research results
CORDIS

High-temperature Thermophoresis using advanced optical microscopies

Objective

Thermophoresis denotes the motion of dissolved species in fluids created by temperature gradients. In water, the origin of thermophoresis is multiple, complex and still a matter of active research activities for solutes such as proteins, DNA or colloids.

Thermophoresis at small scales (sub-100 µm) aroused a strong interest this last decade because it makes the process faster and because of the development of important applications in life sciences, e.g. in bioanalytics. However, reducing the spatial scale makes quantitative and non-invasive measurements of temperature and molecular concentration more challenging.

In the HiPhore project, using gold nanoparticles under illumination as nanosources of heat, I wish to achieve major breakthroughs in the field of microscale thermophoresis in liquids (MTL): (i) We will develop new microscopy tools and pioneer their use in the context of MTL: we will implement the possibility to shape arbitrarily complex microscale temperature profiles and to quantitatively image in parallel the resulting fields of temperature and molecular concentration using label-free advanced optical tools. (ii) Thanks to these tools, we will study the enigmatic origin of protein thermophoresis with a new glance. We will also explore a new regime, that I coin super-thermophoresis, consisting in thermophoresis in superheated liquid water up to 200°C. We have shown that such a metastable state can be achieved at ambient pressure using gold nanoparticles under illumination at their plasmonic resonance. (iii) Based on this gain of knowledge and know-how, we will develop two new applications of MTL. The first one consists in studying the thermal stability of proteins by thermophoresis with a label-free approach. The second one consists in using a superthermophoretic trap to enable for the first time the culture and the real-time observation of hyperthermophilic microorganisms (living up to 113°C) in vivo at ambient pressure under optical microscopy means.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.

You need to log in or register to use this function

Keywords

Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)

Programme(s)

Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.

Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

ERC-COG - Consolidator Grant

See all projects funded under this funding scheme

Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

(opens in new window) ERC-2017-COG

See all projects funded under this call

Host institution

CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE CNRS
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 1 922 973,00
Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 1 922 973,00

Beneficiaries (1)

My booklet 0 0