Biomim'day

Laurent Billon - Biomimétisme & Matériaux bio-inspirés: levier d’innovation responsable - Comprendre le vivant et s'en inspirer

David Grégoire - Bioinspiration from natural mother-of-pearl: from biomimicry to waste recovery in construction materials
Many natural materials present very interesting mechanical performances whereas they are composed of basic materials rather weak mechanically. These performances come from their elegant hierarchical structure. Indeed, nature builds these composites from the ground up, starting from nanoscopic elements to create structures on a macroscopic scale. Each of the scales, from nano to macro, contributes to the overall performance of the material. Molluscs appeared 545 million years ago and include about 60,000 species. Molluscs have a very soft internal structure (the mantle) and most have developed an outer shell to protect themselves from external aggressions. A wide variety of shell structures have thus emerged. Among all these structures, seashell nacre, mother-of-pearl, proves to be the most resistant. The first part of the presentation will focus on the origin of the mechanical performances of natural nacre. The second part will focus on the re-use of different seashell wastes in construction materials to gain performance and decrease environmental impact. The methodology is applied to different territories (Arcachon bay, French Polynesian atolls) with different seashell waste production but the same lack of local quarries for construction aggregate supply.

Tematuanui A Tehei Hantz - Use of French Polynesia Pinctada pearl oyster shells for environmental-friendly concrete
The replacement of the regular granular skeleton by crushed Polynesian pearl oysters’ shells in a cementitious material is an opportunity to valorise the waste produced by the pearl farms in French Polynesia, to propose an alternative material to the local people and to reach new performances using the nacre properties.

Andrew Wilson - Recycling of Natural and Industrial Wastes for Environmentally-friendly and High-performance multifunctional cement-based grout for Geothermal well cementation
Natural wastes like nacre-based seashells possess remarkable mechanical performance due to their microstructural properties. Some natural porous materials exhibit self-healing properties due to an adsorption-induced swelling in the presence of adsorbates like CO2. There is the possibility of transferring these remarkable properties from natural materials to synthetic ones. This project seeks to incorporate wastes from seashells and some porous materials into cement grout formulations to optimize their performance for Geothermal cementation purposes.

Pierre Marcasuzaa - Bio-inspired surfaces structuration applied to wettability properties
Amazing adhesion of gecko feet or wettability of lotus leaves are well known to be due to their natural structuration which impact the interaction between the surface / liquid in contact (Cassie Baxter or Wenzel model effect). This work is inspired by these phenomena to create different functional rough surfaces. I will discuss around examples of sensitive structured surfaces (sensitive to external stimuli) and hydro/oleophobic surfaces obtained from a bulky material.

Philippe Poncet - Numerical simulation of biological films and respiratory epithelium for therapy monitoring
In this presentation, we are interested in the numerical simulation of the human respiratory epithelium and its surrounding fluid at the scale of the cell, composed of the Newtonian periceliary fluid and the mucins generating the non-Newtonian pulmonary mucus. This mucus is intended to capture pathogens, dust and toxic agents (pollutants, nicotine, ...) and to be expelled to be destroyed. This barrier becomes non-functional in a number of pathologies such as COPD, asthma, cystic fibrosis and/or ABPA. In a collaboration between LMAP-CHU Toulouse, we focus on the modeling of cystic fibrosis: putting in coherence certain rheological parameters with simulations makes possible to determine whether a mucus is functional or not, and thus to guess if a treatment has a significant impact well before being able to draw a clinical picture. This study is conducted in the framework of the ANR projects BioFiReaDy (2010-2014) and MucoReaDy (2020-2025).

Sandra Castanié - Hybrid organic-inorganic pigments inspired by sea urchin spines
To enhance the physical and chemical resistance of natural organic dyes, for example their natural fading, an approach is to stabilize organic matter with inorganic parts. Amazing inspirations of this concept are given in Nature. In sea urchin, spines can have different and intense colors thanks to organics chromophores. Theses organic dyes are protected by a mineral structure of calcium carbonate formed by biomineralization of CO2. Here are presented the synthesis of hybrid organic-inorganic pigments inspired by the simultaneous pigmentation and biomineralization processes occurring in the spines of sea urchin, and their use in UV-protective hybrid films.

Damien Sous - Nature-based solutions for coastal protection
In a global context of sea level rise and growing anthropogenic pressure, nearshore areas are increasingly exposed to physical hazards, such as submersion or erosion, with dramatical consequences for ecosystems and infrastructures. For centuries, the traditional "hard-engineering" approach has led to deploy heavy structures along the coastline, made of concrete or rocks. However, a growing R&D effort has been spent during the last decades to design soft or nature-based solutions (NBS), promoting the idea of ecological, removable and/or sustainable systems. We will draw a rapid synthesis on the main NBS, with specific focus on recent and ongoing research.

Garbine Aguirre Ugarte - Self-assembled bioinspired microgels: Towards smart skincare
The design of innovative delivery systems is resulting in the new product development in smart skincare. In this scenario, microgels deserve a special mention thanks to their incomparable physicochemical properties.
Microgels as stimuli-responsive cross-linked colloidal particles offer porous structures to contain/release a broad spectrum of different active molecules in a tunable fashion. Moreover, ionic microgels present mechanoelectrical properties in solution. Thanks to these properties, self-assembled microgel films (SAMF) are envisioned an outstanding choice as delivery systems for skincare.
Herein, different bioinspired microgels and their self-assembly will be presented as promising candidates for smart skincare applications and as transdermal delivery systems.

Mohamed Amine Berkal - Bioinspired detection of contaminations: Specific inhibition of Exo I enzyme by glyphosate
Due to its effectiveness in killing weeds at a moderate price, glyphosate became one of the most widely used pesticides in the world. Although it is considered less toxic compared to other chemical pesticides, glyphosate has raised public concern due to its massive use leading to its detection in surface waters1. To the best of our knowledge, no effective on-site and real-time glyphosate detection system is currently available. In order to meet these requirements, a biosensor composed essentially of an aptamer that specifically recognizes its target, is currently under development. The choice of aptamer was essentially based on the inspired from nature entities, more particularly antibodies and enzymes.
[1] Autorité (EFSA), E. F. S. Peer Review of the Pesticide Risk Assessment of the Potential Endocrine Disrupting Properties of Glyphosate. EFSA Journal. 2017, 15 (9), e04979."

Judith Veillon / Lea Spitzer - Marine Bioresources, a source of biomolecules and bio-inspiration
Oceans are an extraordinary and unexploited sustainable source of natural compounds with specific and very appealing physicochemical, structural and biological properties. PleasAlthough very promising, a considerable amount of these compounds are still scarcely exploited.
In this context, the research chair Manta, led by Susana Fernandes, focuses on the development of (bio)materials exploiting both marine-derived materials and marine biomimetic approaches. To do so, small molecules and biopolymers are extracted from marine biomass, by developing green extraction methods, and then chemically and/or enzymatically modified to give functionalized bio-inspired materials (porous structures, films, hydrogels and composites) for biomedical and packaging applications. The impact of the latter and/or their metabolites on human health and on aquatic ecosystems is also addressed by exploring their degradation mechanism to develop remediation method against marine pollution. The objective is to respond to societal problems related to human health and the degradation of the marine environment.

Hervé Garraud - Table ronde recherche partenariale

Laurent Billon - Table ronde formation