ANR AZOTICS

Dates:
January 2021 – December 2025

Project coordinator:
Chemistry and Interdisciplinarity, Synthesis, Analysis, Modeling (CEISAM Nantes)

Partner laboratories :

• IMN
• Interdisciplinary Physics Laboratory (LIPHY Saint Martin d’Hères)
• Nantes Angers Cancer and Immunology Research Center (CRCINA Nantes)
• Techniques de l’Ingénierie Médicale et de la Complexité – Informatique, Mathématiques et Applications (TIMC-IMAG Grenoble)

IMN staff involved:
Stéphane CUENOT

The recent emergence of high-resolution, in-depth imaging techniques such as photoacoustic microscopy (PA) is opening up new fields of biological investigation. The in vivo monitoring of immune cells, markers of inflammation and severe pathologies, is one such area of interest. The interdisciplinary AZOTICS project aims to overcome the current limitations of PA microscopy by developing innovative biocompatible elastomer nanolabels based on azo photochromes. Photostimulated actuation mechanisms will be used to amplify PA contrast based on thermal expansion. Photoinduced mechanical deformations of single nano-objects will be assessed by atomic force microscopy. Their PA imaging properties will be studied via a continuum in vitro, in cellulo and in vivo, using monocyte and macrophage labeling, microfluidic systems mimicking microvascularization, and inflammatory models.