Luce Dauphinot, biological engineer in Marie-Claude Potier’s team, was awarded the CNRS (National Scientific Research Center) Cristal Medal on Friday, December 16 for her innovative work in single-cell molecular biology. 20 candidates among 1500 applicants are rewarded, including 3 in life sciences.
Luce Dauphinot developed a microfluidics system in 2004 to trap single cells and consequently succeeded in deciphering embryonic neuron transcriptomes in mice. She then created a platform for high-speed analysis of single cells.
Her achievements were followed by publications, an award at the Microtechnologies in Medicine and Biology Congress, as well as a European CNRS patent. Luce Dauphinot put in immense efforts to promote it and secured financing from SATT Lutech. She also developed two industrial partnerships allowing her to develop a semi-industrial prototype of her device. This includes a pipettor robot that can distribute over 2,000 individual droplets in five minutes in PCR 96 well plates and 384 wells.
The CNRS Cristal Medal is awarded to engineers, technicians and administrative managers. It recognizes those who, thanks to their creativity, technical expertise and sense of innovation, contribute alongside researchers to advancing knowledge and French research excellence.
The team led by Marie-Claude Potier is focused on the role played by lipids in Alzheimer’s disease.
