Controlling non wetting properties for anti-biofouling surfaces using SLIPS technology

While superhydrophobic and super omniphobic textured surfaces became very popular in the early 2000s, their actual use has very often remained limited. Indeed a major limitation of this type of surface concerns the difficulty to maintain a stable Cassie-Baxter state (air trapped under the liquid).

A real breakthrough in the field was made in 2011 by the Aizenberg group of the Wyss Institute. The idea is based on impregnating a wetting textured surface with a liquid of low surface tension (usually an inert oil that is immiscible with water). The surface roughness (micro or nano textured or structured) keeps the impregnated liquid in place. This is known as SLIPS (Slippery Liquid-Infused Porous Surfaces).

In that frame, we are involved in the ANR project ECONOMICS (driven by Pr. M. Jimenez, UMET Lab, University of Lille) aiming at contributing to the design of non-wetting surfaces, showing food compatibility, antifouling properties and resistance to cleaning procedures.

In this case, the material used is stainless steel, which we texture by laser ablation or electrochemical/chemical etching. The impregnated surfaces are then tested in a milk heat treatment pilot line (INRA, Villeneuve d’Ascq). Compared to a stainless steel control surface (NAT, Fig 1), a stainless steel SLIPS surface makes it possible to strongly limit the deposit (SLIPS, Fig 1) and even eliminate it completely after a simple rinsing step with water (SLIPS-r, Fig 1) [1]. Work is in progress to optimize oil retention in the surface and to promote the reuse of these surfaces.

a) Dried dairy deposits on SLIPS surface (top) and native stainless steel (bottom)
b) Fouling performance (wt %) of stainless steel SLIPS surface compare to native one

Furthermore we are currently working in closed collaboration with a startup Structurys Biotech. (Joined filled patents) on this topic to develop anti biofilm SLIPS based surfaces.
This thematic is developed through a closed collaboration with Y. Coffinier (NBI group, IEMN).

Publications ________________

[1] Biomimetic surface modifications of stainless steel targeting dairy fouling mitigation and bacterial adhesion, ZOUAGHI S., BELLAYER S., THOMY V., DARGENT T., COFFINIER Y., ANDRE C., DELAPLACE G., JIMENEZ M., Food Bioprod. Process. 113 (2019) 32-38, doi: 10.1016/j.fbp.2018.10.012

[2] Antifouling biomimetic liquid-infused stainless steel: application to dairy industrial processing
ZOUAGHI S., SIX T., BELLAYER S., MORADI S., HATZIKIRIAKOS S.G., DARGENT T., THOMY V., COFFINIER Y., ANDRE C., DELAPLACE G., JIMENEZ M., ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 9, 31 (2017) 26565-26573 doi: 10.1021/acsami.7b06709

On going projects ___________

ANR Economics (2018-2021). ECO-efficient and safe aNtifOuling surfaces for MIlk and egg proCessing industrieS. ANR-17-CE08-0032
CNRS (INSIS) APPEL À PROJET : INGÉNIERIE INSPIRÉE PAR LA NATURE, Polytic (2020) POLYmère Texturé et Imprégné pour lutter contre l’encrassement.

Collaborations

Smart textile for personal thermal management

Personal thermal management is of great interest in the framework of energy reduction, since it allows to decrease building heating or cooling.
In this context, in collaboration with the EPHONY team, we propose to act on the radiative heat loss of a body, by increasing (cooling effect) or decreasing (heating effect) its transmission trough clothing.
To assure the radiative management, we develop a photonic membrane in the mid- infrared range to be report on textile.
First demonstration of photonic crystal in mid-infrared range was obtained on Silicon (figure).
For clothing application, textile compatible polymer membranes are now under fabrication.
The thermal numerical study of « heating » membrane have already demonstrate of 2°C of the room temperature to assure thermal comfort of a being.

SEM view of a Silicon hole grating photonic crystal and reflection coefficient of this structure in the mid-infrared range spectra of this structure (blue line : numerical study by FEM, black line : FTIR spectroscopy)

Publications ________________

[1] Modulation of the refractive properties of 1D and 2D photonic crystal polycrystalline silicon-based membranes in the MIR frequency range, Viallon M., Assaf S., Treizebre A., Gidik H., Dupont D., Bedek G., Caillibotte M., Djafari-Rouhani B., Thomy V., Pennec Y., Senez V., J. Phys. D-Appl. Phys. 52 , 20 (2019) 205101, doi: 10.1088/1361-6463/ab085d

[2] Polymer photonic crystal membrane for thermo-regulating textile, Assaf S., Boutghatin M.,  Pennec Y., Thomy V., Korovin, A., Treizebre A., Carette M., Akjouj A., Gidik, Djafari-Rouhani B., Scientific Report (2020, to be published)

On going projects ___________

This work was partially supported by Damart and the Interreg project PHOTONITEX.

Collaborations

Health for dairy Cows (H4DC): High throughput Drug screening platform

All over the world, Cryptosporidium is an extremely common parasite responsible for diarrhea. In Africa and Asia, this pathogen was described as the second infectious agent responsible for infant mortality related to severe diarrhea in children less than 5 years old. Despite this public health threat, no therapeutic tools are currently available. BioMEMS group develop new technologies and strategies to study and manipulate the parasite. In the H4DC project, researchers and engineer are developing a 96 wells platform dedicated to rapid drug screening (Fig.1). This electronic device is based on impedimetric response of cells infected by the parasite. Using this approach, they are able to address the issue of drug efficiency against the parasite in an automated manner and over a very short time. Following an engineering step, they will make it possible to adapt this device to standard analytic devices used in large-scale pharmaceutical screening platforms.

Overall design of the drug screening device. The picture on the right hand side shows HCT-8 cells with DAPI stained nucleus (blue dots) growing on interdigitated micro-electrodes. This cell layer is infected by C. parvum (IOWA strain) marked with anti-Cryptosporidium antibodies labelled with Cy3 (Red dots)

Publications ________________

BAYDOUN M., TREIZEIBRE A., FOLLET J., VANNESTE S., CREUSY C., DERCOURT L., DELAIRE B., MOURAY A., VISCOGLIOSI E., CERTAD G., SENEZ V. An Interphase Microfluidic Culture System for the Study of Ex Vivo Intestinal Tissue. Micromachines. 2020 Jan 30;11(2). pii: E150. doi: 10.3390/mi11020150.

LEJARD-MALKI R., FOLLET J., VLANDAS A., SENEZ V. Selective electrohydrodynamic concentration of waterborne parasites on a chip. Lab Chip. 2018 Oct 23;18(21):3310-3322. doi: 10.1039/c8lc00840j

BAYDOUN M., VANNESTE SB., CREUSY C., GUYOT K., GANTOIS N., CHABE M., DELAIRE B., MOURAY A., BAYDOUN A., FORZY G., CHIEUX V, GOSSET P, SENEZ V, VISCOGLIOSI E, FOLLET J, CERTAD G. Three-dimensional (3D) culture of adult murine colon as an in vitro model of cryptosporidiosis: Proof of concept. Sci Rep. 2017 Dec 11;7(1):17288. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-17304-2.

DIBAO-DINA A, FOLLET J, IBRAHIM M, VLANDAS A, SENEZ V. Electrical impedance sensor for quantitative monitoring of infection processes on HCT-8 cells by the waterborne parasite Cryptosporidium. Biosens Bioelectron. 2015 Apr 15;66:69-76. doi: 10.1016/j.bios.2014.11.009

On going projects ___________

This project has received funding from the Interreg 2 Seas programme 2014-2020 co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund under subsidy contract No. 2S05-043”

Collaborations

Distinguishing cancer cells based on their biophysical signatures

Changes in cell shape and structural integrity affect many biological processes related to cells. Therefore, we can potentially use the biophysical properties of cells to reflect the state of their health. This connection between the biophysics and diseases has been attracting scientific research attention, especially for cancer research, where diseased cells proliferate uncontrollably and disrupt the organization of tissue. Here, we target a reliable and practical high-throughput technique to obtain the biophysical signature of cancer cells. We take two parallel approaches to achieve this goal. We use MEMS grippers (i.e., Silicon NanoTweezers) that provide higher sensitivity to examine different biophysical properties (e.g., size, stiffness, viscosity, and electrical properties). In parallel, we are developing a high-throughput MEMS device optimized according to the SNT results for clinical applications.

Movies show the examples of cell compression
with different devices, i.e.,
silicon nanotweezers (left) and
channel integrated MEMS device (right)

Publications ________________

Y. TAKAYAMA, G. PERRET, M. KUMEMURA, M. ATAKA, S. MEIGNAN, S. L. KARSTEN, H. FUJITA, D. COLLARD, C. LAGADEC, M. C. TARHAN, Developing a MEMS Device with Built-in Microfluidics for Biophysical Single Cell Characterization. Micromachines, 9, 275, 2018.

M. C. TARHAN, N. LAFITTE, Y. TAURAN, L. JALABERT, M. KUMEMURA, G. PERRET, B.J. KIM, A. W. COLEMAN, H. FUJITA AND D. COLLARD, “A rapid and practical technique for real-time monitoring of biomolecular interactions using mechanical responses of macromolecules”, Scientific Reports 6, 28001, 2016.

On going projects ___________

I-SITE ULNE, Support for ERC grant (2019-2022), High-throughput identification of circulating cancer cells using biophysical signature

Collaboration with LIMMS/CNRS-IIS UMI2820, The University of Tokyo

High throughput opto-fluidic devices for cells treatment and therapies

In diagnosis and therapy protocols, improving the efficiency of biological cell manipulations, like cell labelling or cancer immunotherapy, requires a controlled release of large molecular agents at high throughput. Several drawbacks characterize up to date techniques: cytotoxicity, low efficiency and throughput, specificity in drug or size or type of molecules. This project consists to develop a new high cell yield approach using gold nanoparticles mediated photoporation in a microfluidic chip, offering high throughput and low cytotoxicity drug delivery for adherent or circulating living cell. Instead of fixed plasmonic patches, we propose a new configuration with the use of advected AuNP to allow flow photoporation. With a fully versatile setup, the spatial organization within both the biological cell and AuNP flows becomes a key point to avoid cytotoxicity due to cells/AuNP contacts.

Devices and results _________

We have developed an original optofluidic devices based on a specific microfluidic design to finely control the relative distance between the flow containing the cells and the flow with gold nanoparticles. Additionally, to this improvement, tuning the distance between the two species gives us control over the mechanical stress caused by nanobubble collapse, and thus makes the optofluidic device compatible with stress sensitive cells.

We worked through various protocols to establish a method to perform distant photoporation, that is, separating AuNPs from cells without pre-incubation in the prospect of retrieving AuNPs free photoporated samples. HeLa WT cells and AuNP suspension are injected in a microfluidic chip through separate inlets in such a way to control the distance between both distributions. Optical design was made to shape the laser beam properly and submit cells to a single pulse during their travel through the microchannel with respect to the flow rate. Permeabilization of cell membrane was monitored using FITC-dextran macromolecule incorporation via fluorescence microscopy.

On going project _________

ERC Nanobubble (Headed Pr. K. Breackmans, Univ Ghent)

Collaborations

A new Microfluidic platform to follow the extravasation process and collect extravasated cancer cells

To prevent metastatic recurrences, we need to understand the steps of metastases that occur during and after dissemination of tumor cells from the primary site and develop strategies to block these steps. Once arrested on the capillary beds of targeted organs, tumor cells have to extravasate through the endothelial wall and enter these organs. This extravasation step is crucial for the establishment of metastatic tumors.  One point that needs to be elucidated is the stemness characteristics of metastatic cancer cells.
The first hypothesis is that cancer cells need to be in a stem-ness state to be able to initiate extravasation and then generate metastasis. The other hypothesis is that cancer cells will only display stemness characteristics once extravasated in the appropriate microenvironment.

Devices and results ________________

We developed an original biomimetic platform which enable not only to follow in real-time the extravasation process but also to collect, for further analyses, extravasated cancer cells. We developed an original biomimetic microchip with a specific new design allowing to study and follow in real time the cancer cells and their interactions with the endothelium wall.

Our device enables to collect extravasated cancer cells through the bottom collecting chamber and compare them, in term of phenotype with the ones that were not able to extravasate.  We use time-lapse imaging in a biomimetic microfluidic device to study the metastatic potential of breast cancer cells focusing on CSCs/non-CSCs.  This new original microfluidic microchip enables to study in real-time cancer cells and their interaction with the endothelium through a complex bifurcation network mimicking capillary bed.  The effect of the metastatic microenvironment is studied, through the modulation of the bottom collecting chamber. In this study, we developed a new microfluidic device in order to study tumor cell extravasation.

Collaborations