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Microfluidics-assisted design and construction of light-responsive protocells

Objective

Protocells are synthetic models of cells exhibiting rudimentary life-like properties, such as compartmentalization, sensing or replication, and constitute as such primitive forms of cellularity that could help to understand the origin of life. The remarkable properties of these smart micromachines can also be harnessed to tackle key societal challenges, including environmental clean-up, energy production, or drug delivery. Advances in this field would greatly benefit from the precise activation of protocells in both space and time. However, fine control over protocellular functions has been minimal to date. Conventional types of actuation (e.g. T, pH) do not allow spatiotemporal guidance due to their inherent inertia or the need to add chemicals. Light provides an attractive alternative for the remote manipulation of protocells with an extremely high spatiotemporal resolution. However, there is no precedent of light-actuated protocells in the literature. The aim of this proposal is precisely to design and construct a new class of photo-responsive protocells capable of being manipulated, activated or silenced quickly and locally in response to light. The bottom-up protocell assembly will be performed by microfluidics, whose powerful abilities in terms of modularity, reliability or sensitivity will be exploited to produce structurally well-defined architectures, and study interactions between protocells in a way unattainable with traditional methods. The expertise and skills of the applicant in the field of protocell design and light-responsive materials will be applied to the multidisciplinary and cutting-edge fields of microfluidics and synthetic biology in which the hosting groups at CNRS (under the leadership of Prof. Jean-Christophe Baret and Dr. Laurence Navailles) have made significant progress in the last few years.

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Keywords

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Programme(s)

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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.

MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)

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Call for proposal

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

(opens in new window) H2020-MSCA-IF-2017

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Coordinator

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.

€ 173 076,00
Address
RUE MICHEL ANGE 3
75794 PARIS
France

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Region
Ile-de-France Ile-de-France Paris
Activity type
Research Organisations
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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.

€ 173 076,00
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