Research activities
The group of “Smart NanoParticles” (SNP) is part of the Jean-Marie Lehn Foundation and the InnoVec Interdisciplinary Thematic Institute (ITI). The group activities are mainly oriented towards the design and study of smart “smart drug-delivery systems” able to release the right quantity of a therapeutic agent to the right place and at the right time, while allowing a diagnosis of the targeted pathology to be establish (theranostics) for personalized medicine.
In particular, the group is interested in the development of non-viral vectors for gene therapy and photoactivatable nanoparticles for the conditional release of biological and therapeutical effectors (nucleic acids, antibacterial compounds, "conventional" antitumor drugs, gene expression inducers, anti-inflammatory compounds). These molecular systems are designed for therapeutic applications in various fields including cancer (melanoma), skin pathologies (atopic dermatitis) and bacterial infections.
Other work aims more specifically at the treatment of pulmonary diseases (asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease [COPD], smoker's disease, lung cancer, etc.) and is based on the development of new administration modalities of therapeutic nucleic acids into the lung. This requires taking into account the presence of mucus which protects the pulmonary epithelium and limits the effectiveness of treatments. Therefore, original vectors, with intrinsic mucolytic properties able of modulating the viscoelastic properties of mucus, are developed.
The SNP team also integrates, into its research activities, issues related to the security of the systems under development, from their design and throughout the optimization processes. This involves, in particular, fundamental studies on the toxicity of our drug-delivery systems.
The group is composed of chemists and biologists and addresses the following disciplinary fields: organic synthesis, photonics, drug vectorization, pharmacology, in vitro toxicology and in vivo toxicology.
Keywords: organic synthesis, vectors, nanoparticles, (nano)toxicology, gene therapy, theranostic agents, pulmonary pathologies, mucus, photo-pharmacology, photodynamic therapy, photonics and drug delivery.