Description du sujet de thèse

Monitoring severe infections using miniaturized analysis of inflammation biomarkers

-This thesis will enable you to take part in an experimental project to develop a microfluidic device dedicated to the rapid analysis of protein biomarkers that characterize inflammation in response to severe infection (sepsis). At the same time, you will use a reference method from hospital biology laboratories to compare, from an analytical point of view, the miniaturized method and the one currently in use for patient diagnosis. The use of microfluidic systems aims to reduce sample consumption and simplify preparation steps. The PhD student will focus primarily on the choice of detection method, while exploring the possibility of parallelizing analyses on multiple markers. To this end, work on the design and manufacture of microfluidic chips will require the use of C2N's clean room. Methods will then be developed using standards to optimize detection and quantification limits, before working on patient samples. This multidisciplinary project will be carried out by teams from two laboratories with complementary skills in analytical chemistry, physical chemistry (ICP) and micro-nanofluidics (C2N). The first part of the project will involve the development of a fast, high-performance set of instruments dedicated to analysis in micro-fluidic structures. The second part will involve an exhaustive comparison of the various analytical parameters between the reference method and miniaturized analysis.

Key words
Hospital diagnostics / Proteins / Microfluidics / Analytical performance / Sepsis

Contexte de travail

We are proposing a PhD thesis (3 years, registration in the 2MIB doctoral school of the Université Paris-Saclay - choice of physics or chemistry specialization) as part of the IHU PROMETHEUS (Institut Hospitalo-Universitaire) program on sepsis. We have just been awarded full funding for this thesis, and your application will not have to go through a doctoral school competition. You will take up your post at the start of the 2025 academic year (September-October). Ideally, you have a Master's degree in analytical chemistry or microfluidics, or in physical chemistry, or are a young engineer, and you would like to join two laboratories (ICP and C2N, associated with CNRS) at the Université Paris-Saclay, to work on the analysis of biomarkers (proteins) characteristic of inflammation during a serious infection. You have a good knowledge of instrumentation, micro/nano-fluidics and data processing. Please contact us as soon as possible, enclosing a full CV and your transcripts for the last academic three years: