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Bruno Le Pioufle - Professor ENS Paris-Saclay, LUMIN (FRE CNRS 2036), IDA FR 3242

1) You coordinate one of the ILITE project's work package (a university hospital research health project labelised in 2016 for a five year's funding support). Can you explain the major issues of this project, in particular the objectives targeted by the » Liver on a chip devices » sector, in which you are involved ?


Several laboratories are involved in this project : INSERM U597 (Brousse Hospital), the UTC, the LIMMS in Tokyo, the d'Alembert Institute as well as PMEs. In the « Liver on a chip » work-package we propose to investigate the possible ways to reproduce a
physiological liver function on a micro fluid chip (detoxifying the blood). This is what occurs naturally in the Herring chanels, which are found in the liver lobules. The hepatocytes transform the toxins and excrete them in the bile through the bile ducts made up of cholangiocytes. Being able to reproduce such a function on a chip is a very important concern for 1) basic research as we would be able to follow the chip through the different stages inducing the differentiation of the different types of cells involved, the appearance of canaliculi, followed by the bile ducts 2) for pharmacology in order to analyse the impact of medication in real time, for example.

2) Within the ILITE project, you represent the IDA partner bringing together researchers, professor researchers and engineers from all of the laboratories associated at the Institute (SATIE, PPSM, LPQM and LBPA). Was the multi-disciplinarily represented by the Alembert Institute an advantage for participating in the ILITE project ?


The multi-disciplinarily of the institute is an advantage for carrying out research in the field of physiological functions on chips. We have the advantage of the experimental platforms of the institute and the expertise of the engineers who are associated with them. Their enthusiasm and expertise are essential, and have allowed us to set up the first experiments concerning the culture of hepatocytes on chips, very quickly . The researchers and engineers who are involved in the project (A. El Abed, R. Ghasemi, I. Ledoux, J.P. Lefevre, C.T. Nguyen C. Nogues and B. Le Pioufle) have, effectively, highly complementary skills in disciplinary fields such as micro fluidic, cellular imagery, surface functionalisation. At the IDA we are experienced in multi-disciplinary projects, which is a considerable advantage for successfully reaching the scientific objectives of the ILITE project, and to better interact with the different partners.


4 IMPORTANT DATES :


- October 2016: Beginning of the ILITE project
- 2007: Accommodation in the new IDA building
- 2005 - 2007: LIMMS director (Tokyo University), CNRS international unit
- 1999: Professor at the ENS Cachan, leader of the BIOMIS research group