Description of the thesis topic

The thesis work involves studying different strategies for manufacturing chiral metal nanoclusters of different sizes, metal compositions and degrees of chirality (intrinsic and induced). The main objective is to use the nanoclusters designed both as multiphoton imaging agents and as photosensitizers.
The PhD student will acquire expertise in techniques for studying ROS generation in solution (indirect methods using internal dyes) and in vitro (using ROS-active dyes). Specialised skills will include biological imaging techniques (multiphoton imaging and second harmonic generation). The potential of circularly polarised Hyper-Rayleigh scattering as a technique for NLO biological imaging will also be evaluated.

Work Context

Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) doctoral networks are joint research and training projects funded by the European Union. Funding is awarded to doctoral students from Europe and elsewhere to carry out individual project work in a European country other than their own. The CHIRALNANOMAT MSCA doctoral network is composed of 7 beneficiaries and 9 associated partners, all coordinated by POLITECHNIKA WROCLAWSKA, WROCLAW, Poland. The CHIRALNANOMAT network will address this need by training 13 talented doctoral students to develop chiral metal nanoclusters, understand their chirality at the atomic level through a combination of advanced spectroscopic techniques and theoretical simulations, and apply them to relevant processes in biomedicine and catalysis. Thanks to the synergy between disciplines as diverse as synthesis, spectroscopy and theory, the PhD students will be able to develop an understanding of chirality at the atomic level, enabling them to maximise its potential in catalysis and biomedicine in order to address major societal challenges and future prospects for chiral nanomaterials.
The Lumière Matière Institute (iLM) is a CNRS-University of Lyon 1 research unit located on the Lyon Tech La Doua campus. With around 300 employees, including around 100 doctoral and post-doctoral students and 150 interns per year, the iLM is a major player in physics and chemistry research in the Auvergne Rhône Alpes region, internationally recognised for the excellence of its research. The host team is the iLM's spectrobio team, which has around 20 members (including a dozen doctoral students and fixed-term contract researchers) conducting research in the fields of mass spectrometry and optical spectroscopy.
Candidates should have experience in fluorescence spectroscopy, photochemistry, microscopy, optics and lasers, or other instrumental techniques. Candidates that have been trained in synthesis of nanoclusters and have high autonomy will also be considered, but need to be highly interested in the multidisciplinarity of the project and in the aforementioned techniques and data treatment. Examples of Masters diplomas are Chemistry, Physical Chemistry, Physics (if related to spectroscopy, microscopy, photonics, optics), or Materials Science.

Salary : 2200 € gross monthly

Constraints and risks

Class IV lasers
Handling of nanoparticles