My research project within the PEPR-MEDOOC aims to develop tools to physically characterize epithelial and endothelial layers in an OOC system. The teams I joined have strong expertise in hydrogel characterization using various tools (rheometry, hydrostatic pressure application, etc.), which opens the possibility of using them for in vitro characterization of the epithelium and endothelium.

My main goal is to upgrade the tools previously available at LAAS toward a new hydrostatic + electrophysiological (TEER) characterization platform to study the permeability and deformability of epithelial and endothelial barriers. Combining these two techniques will improve previously inaccessible tissue readouts, such as real-time monitoring of epithelial/endothelial barrier quality under applied pressure.
I want to work in OOC technology development because I believe it represents the future of preclinical testing. These technologies reduce animal experimentation and provide more reliable results by mimicking human biology.

The intestinal epithelium is a crucial interface between the external environment and our body. It ensures nutrient absorption while excluding harmful compounds and capturing antigens. This ability to control absorption and protect against damage caused by harmful substances is referred to as intestinal barrier function (IBF). It is impaired in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and in certain cancers.
In IBD, chronic inflammation disrupts epithelial regeneration. Intestinal stem cells, responsible for mucosal renewal, see their regenerative capacity decline, and the human repair mechanisms remain only partially understood.

The PhD aims to seed and exploit an already developed microfluidic chamber: the hydrogel scaffold has been functionalized with collagen I and culture conditions for human colon organoids and 2D fibroblasts are established. The goal is to use this colon-on-a-chip, seeded with patient-derived organoids and fibroblasts (healthy and IBD), as a platform to study intestinal regeneration and IBF restoration, as well as epithelium-microbiota interactions, the impact of nutrients/contaminants, and the preclinical screening of treatments.
Working on organ-on-a-chip devices allows for in vitro reproduction of 3D tissue organization and microenvironmental signals that 2D models cannot capture.
3D Matrigel organoids remain limited: they do not properly reproduce intestinal/colon topology and lumen access is difficult. The colon-on-a-chip offers a finely controlled environment (topology, stiffness, nutrient flow, gradients) and dynamic control of luminal/basal compartments, which facilitates the study of the lumen/epithelium interface, interactions with the microbiota, and enables high-content/high-throughput screening while reducing reliance on animal models.

Current research project within PEPR-MED-OOC: MAGIC — Type 1 diabetes-on-a-chip, for the vascularization and monitoring of pancreatic islets on a microfluidic chip.
Diabetes affected 537 million people worldwide in 2021, 10% of whom had type 1 diabetes. This disease is linked to the autoimmune destruction of pancreatic β-cells, located within islets and responsible for insulin secretion, leading to chronic hyperglycemia.

To address this health issue, transplantation of pancreatic islets from deceased donors was approved as a standard of care in 2021. This therapy introduces new clinical needs, including monitoring transplanted islet grafts to prevent autoimmune relapse in some patients. Since micrometric islets are distributed within the patient’s liver, monitoring their functionality via biopsies is not feasible.
The MAGIC project, led by Fabrice Navarro (CEA-Leti) and Sandrine Lablanche (CHU Grenoble), aims to develop vascularized islet twins on a microfluidic chip in order to track the evolution of the immune response in a controlled environment. These organoids-on-a-chip will notably make it possible to assess islet insulin secretion and their interactions with the patient’s immune cells. Ultimately, this device will help evaluate the effectiveness of immunosuppressive drugs to improve patient quality of life.
I chose to contribute to the development of a robust model addressing a concrete clinical need: preventing immune rejection of transplanted pancreatic islet grafts in diabetic patients. OoC technologies are also paving the way for more ethical research approaches by reducing animal experimentation.

I am an engineer at CEA, working on the MAGIC project (Multisensing and Advanced Growth of Islets on Chip), which aims to develop a biological avatar reproducing interactions between transplanted pancreatic islets and immune cells from patients with type 1 diabetes.

In this context, my work focuses on developing a cryopreservation method for donor pancreatic islets, a critical first step toward establishing a biobank. This resource will later allow integration of the islets onto a microfluidic chip to study, in a controlled environment, cellular and molecular interactions between the islets and the patient’s T lymphocytes.

Why I work on organs- and organoids-on-chip: I work on organs-on-chip because I want to contribute to translational research with a tangible impact on human health. This field fascinates me for its ability to better understand diseases and design more personalized and effective therapies.

At CEA, I joined the MAGIC project, which aims to develop a microfluidic system to trap, perfuse, vascularize, and monitor pancreatic islets for studying cellular and molecular interactions between grafted islets and recipient immune cells in the context of type 1 diabetes treatment. This system will serve as a predictive tool for graft rejection, immune relapse, and/or loss of immunosuppressive treatment efficacy. My role is to develop an electrochemical impedance sensor to monitor the overall health of the islets while considering the constraints of integrating this sensor into a microfluidic system containing other sensors.
In general, I wanted to work on the development of medical applications. My university path introduced me to lab-on-chip technologies, which led me to organs-on-chip. These devices offer an alternative to animal testing in the pharmaceutical field and allow progress toward personalized medicine for each patient, improving treatment efficacy.

My thesis, conducted as part of the MAGIC project (Multisensing and Advanced Growth of Islets-on-Chip), aims to vascularize a pancreatic islet on-chip to study the fate of islet transplantation in the context of type 1 diabetes. The project combines advanced microfluidic engineering with human pancreatic islet biology and vascular organoids to recreate a functional, perfusable microvascular network surrounding and interacting with the pancreatic islets. This vascularization is essential for providing physiological flow and immune cells both around and within the islets, enabling the study of immune-islet interactions under controlled conditions.

By integrating multi-sensing technologies, the platform will allow real-time monitoring of islet function and immune responses under physiological or inflammatory conditions. Ultimately, beyond providing a human-relevant model for testing immunotherapies, this tool aims to better understand the mechanisms leading to graft rejection and functional loss after transplantation. In the long term, this approach could help improve existing therapeutic strategies and advance personalized medicine approaches for diabetes treatment.
I have developed a strong interest in microphysiological systems and organ-on-chip technologies as innovative tools that bridge the gap between traditional in vitro models and human physiology. These platforms offer a unique opportunity to study complex tissue functions in a controlled, human-relevant environment, contributing to reduced animal experimentation and advancing more predictive and ethical biomedical research.