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 natural sciencesbiological sciencesgeneticsDNAnatural sciencesbiological sciencesbiochemistrybiomoleculesproteinsnatural sciencesphysical sciencesopticsmicroscopyengineering and technologynanotechnologynano-materialsnatural sciencesphysical sciencesopticslaser physics Keywords Plasmonics Programme(s) H2020-EU.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme Topic(s) ERC-2017-COG - ERC Consolidator Grant Call for proposal ERC-2017-COG See other projects for this call Funding Scheme ERC-COG - Consolidator Grant Host institution CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE CNRS Net EU contribution € 1 922 973,00 Address RUE MICHEL ANGE 3 75794 Paris France See on map Region Ile-de-France Ile-de-France Paris Activity type Research Organisations Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Total cost € 1 922 973,00 Beneficiaries (1) Sort alphabetically Sort by Net EU contribution Expand all Collapse all CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE CNRS France Net EU contribution € 1 922 973,00 Address RUE MICHEL ANGE 3 75794 Paris See on map Region Ile-de-France Ile-de-France Paris Activity type Research Organisations Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Total cost € 1 922 973,00