Organisation

Représentant: Riccardo SCORRETTI

Ampère is a multidisciplinary laboratory, which is concerned by three scientific fields: Automatic, Electrical Engineering (Electromagnetism) and Environmental Microbiology. Mechatronic Engineering and Bioengineering are its two scientific objectives. It has developed a research activity in the domain of the interaction between living matter and electromagnetic field. The overall aim of our work in this domain is to understand what happens at the cell level when electromagnetic fields are applied at the macroscopic scale (organs, entire body…). The long-term guideline of our work in this domain is to build a link between the cell and the tissue concerning electromagnetic phenomena: electromagnetic properties, field distribution…

At the present time, the “Bio-electromagnetism & Microsystem” group (Project Leader: Ricardo Scoretti) is working mainly at the cell scale by developing: 1. numerical techniques to model the cell on an electromagnetic point of view. In particular we have developed models which permit to compute the transmembrane voltage which is the first approach of electropermeabilization; 2. microsystems, which permit to manipulate, characterize and modify single cells (eukaryote and prokaryote). For example we are developing a microsystem, which permit to perform an electrofusion between two cells (Contrat Region Rhone-Alpes:- cluster Pnano).

Ampère takes advantage of a high skill in field computation, which has been developed during the last thirty years and the development of new experimental facilities in the domain of microbiology that permits to manipulate biological cells. One of the last ANR project (ANR MEMOVE) is a good illustration of the possibilities we have in cell manipulation and biological analysis. This project deals with multi-scale modelling of electroporation; its major purpose is to optimize protocols for electrochemiotherapy and thermal irreversible electroporation used for treating different kinds of cancer, including gliomas.