Project: The controlled transport of ions and molecules across lipid bilayers through specific channels is a crucial mechanism for living cells. Temperature sometimes plays a critical role in the regulation of these channels. In the context of phototherapy, modulating the activity of those channels trough light irradiation in a safe and controlled manner may lead to new therapeutic strategies, beyond optogenetics. In addition, two-photon absorption (2PA) technologies are particularly well-suited for this purpose to achieve precise spatiotemporal control. In these contexts, the main objective of the ChanPulse project is to design, synthetize, and fully characterize an entirely new family of molecular photothermal transducers (A), that can self-assemble into channels within phospholipid bilayers and that can modulate the ion or water translocation through controlled and localized 2P activation (B).

Project: Photothermal therapy (PTT) has garnered increasing interest as a potential alternative to conventional therapeutic methods. This technique utilizes molecules or nanoparticles capable of efficiently converting light into heat. Highly challenging research aspects in the field concern the development of fully organic agents with high biosafety, light absorption in the 700-900 nm biologically transparent window, and that provide efficient PTT effect combined with photoacoustic image-guiding strategy. The CD-Mix project aims to investigate the use of cyanine polymer-conjugates for the fabrication of core-cross-linked micelles though the self-assembly of conjugates followed by dimerization of cyanine dyes within micelles, ultimately facilitating image-guided PTT applications.