Physical chemistry Curie - Institut Curie / CNRS UMR 168 / UPMC

Unit Director: Prof. Jean-François Joanny
Unit Assistant Director: Patrick Keller

Prof. Jean-François Joanny
Professor exceptional class
University

-Thesis 1985 -Professor ULP Strasbourg -Research themes: wetting, polymrs, surfactants, colloids,…

Physicochemical processes at cell level play a prominent role in various biological phenomenon like cell migration or adhesion. Understanding their functioning is essential to control them. The research topics developed in the physicochemistry lab aim to describe quantitatively relevant physical parameters of normal as well as pathological living organisms. For this, physicists, chemists and biologists work jointly to study dynamic models.

The approaches go from theoretical level--including statistical physic of non equilibrium system--to organic synthesis (from simple molecules to macromolecular), as well as many experimental studies on biological systems and biomimetic ones in which the parameters could be changed.

The unit develops a number of diversified research topics, which can be grouped under three major, overlapping chapters: biopolymers’ behavior, motility, adhesion, morphogenesis, signalization… and studies new technical approaches, in particular in microfluidity and optical domains.