Typologie d'actualités: Team Chemistry, Imaging and Exobiology

2022, October, 14: Seminar of Manon Isaac

Séminaire de Manon Isaac, post-doctorante dans le groupe thématique "Complexes métalliques et IRM".

Abstract:

Zinc cations play a key role as a cofactor in gene transcription and metalloenzyme functions, but also in signaling pathways in the immune system, or during fertilization. To understand its underlying function, on top of the quantification of the total amount of zinc, the detection of the labile pool and its evolution is crucial. Whatever the technique is, probes are required to visualize labile zinc. The probes have to be optimized for a given technique but also for the biological context (e.g. extracellular vs intracellular).

Manon Isaac will present several tools to detect labile zinc developed during her PhD and postdocs: design and characterization of peptidic luminescent probes, the first steps towards a device to detect zinc released by the egg after in vitro fertilization, and MRI zinc probes.

 

4th scientific days of the GDR AIM

The 4th scientific days of the GDR AIM (gdraim.cnrs-orleans.fr) organized jointly with the RE1 of France Life Imaging will take place from October 03 to 05, 2022 in Orléans.

The program will take place over four half-days, from Monday October 3rd at 12:00 p.m. to Wednesday October 5th at 1:30 p.m.

With 90 registered participants and a rich program, these days will be a fine representation of French research in the chemistry of imaging probes.

We will also have the pleasure of welcoming 4 foreign speakers:

  • Kristina Djanashvili (Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands)
  • Christophe Portal (Edinburgh Molecular Imaging Ltd)
  • Gyula Tircso (Univ. of Debrecen, Hungary)
  • Carlos Platas (Univ. of Coruna, Spain)

See the programm

Eva Jakab Toth receives the “Torsten Almén” Award

Eva Jakab Toth, co-leader of the "Metal complexes and MRI" group, received the "Torsten Almén" Award for her pioneering research on contrast agents, from the "Contrast Media Research" committee of the World Molecular Imaging Society (WMIS).

This biannual prize rewards unique research activities that have shaped the field of contrast agents. Torsten Almén was a pioneer in the field of non-ionic contrast agents for radiography. His work forever revolutionized the research and clinical use of X-ray imaging agents. In the same spirit, the committee specifically identified "the creativity of the preclinical and translational work of Eva Jakab Toth, in the design, deep characterization and application of paramagnetic MRI contrast agents".

Eva Jakab Toth gave the “Torsten Almén Medal Award” lecture at the 2022 « Contrast Media Research » Symposium in Annapolis, Maryland (August 21-25, 2022).

 

Professor Vincent L. Pecoraro of the University of Michigan is invited at the CBM from May to August 2022 through a LE STUDIUM Research Professorship

Professor Pecoraro is internationally recognized for his major contributions in bioinorganic chemistry, notably on the role of manganese complexes and clusters in photosynthetic water oxidation. He is also a pioneer in the design of metalloenzyme mimetics and in the study of metallacrown complexes with unique magnetic and/or luminescence properties for developments in medical imaging, a field in which several patents have recently been filed with the team “Luminescent lanthanide compounds, optical spectroscopy and bioimaging” from the CBM.

Professor Pecoraro was awarded the Blaise Pascal International Chair in 2010. In 2021, he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Aix-Marseille and a LE STUDIUM Research Professorship (Loire Valley Institute). In addition, Professor Pecoraro is the 2021 recipient of the Franco-American award from the American Chemical Society and the “Société Chimique de France”.

He is currently president of the Society of Biological Inorganic Chemistry.

He is one of the co-founder of the startup VIEWaves founded in Orléans in March 2022 that aims at the commercialization of the optical imaging agents emitting in the near-Infrared domain created on the basis of the collaborative work conducted with the team at CBM.

In Cellulo and In Vivo Comparison of 3 helper lipids for Lipid Nanoparticle Formulation of mRNA

LNPs are a leading class of mRNA delivery systems. LNPs are made of an ionizable lipid, a polyethyleneglycol (PEG)-lipid conjugate and helper lipids. The success of LNPs is due to proprietary ionizable lipids and appropriate helper lipids.

Using a benchmark lipid (D-Lin-MC3) researchers compared the ability of three helper lipids to transfect dendritic cells in cellulo and in vivo. Studies revealed that the choice of helper lipid does not influence the transfection efficiency of immortalized cells but, LNPs prepared with DOPE (dioleylphosphatidylethanolamine) and β-sitosterol were more efficient for mRNA transfection in murine dendritic cells than LNPs containing DSPC (distearoylphosphatidylcholine).

This higher potency of DOPE and β-sitosterol LNPs for mRNA expression was also evident in vivo but only at low mRNA doses.

References of the article published in Nanomaterials:
Ayoub Medjmedj, Albert Ngalle-Loth, Rudy Clemnçon, Josef Hamacek, Chantal Pichon and Federico Perche
In Cellulo and In Vivo Comparison of Cholesterol, Beta-Sitosterol and Dioleylphosphatidylethanolamine for Lipid Nanoparticle Formulation of mRNA
Nanomaterials 2022, 12(14), 2446; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano12142446