Nicolas Bremond

This postdoctoral project at ESPCI Paris is part of a consortium focused on neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) , a cancer-predisposition disease that causes nerve sheath tumors. The work brings together NF1 biologists, biomedical imaging and computing experts, and soft-matter/microfluidics researchers to build experimental tools for studying the disease microenvironment. The project aims to develop a microfluidic microsystem that reproduces the peripheral nervous system microenvironment and supports co-culture of neurons with surrounding cells such as Schwann cells and fibroblasts. These microsystems will incorporate extracellular-matrix-mimicking hydrogels to enable controlled cell interactions around axons embedded in a matrix-like environment. A major research goal is to obtain high-resolution imaging of cell morphology under different conditions so that AI-based models can be trained for automated analysis of cell interactions in their microenvironment. The position therefore combines device development, cell culture, imaging, and computational analysis in a biomedical context. The second part of the project builds on a high-throughput compartmentalized cell-culture methodology already developed in the laboratory. In this system, cells are trapped inside capsule-like compartments with a liquid core and hydrogel membrane, produced by high-speed coextrusion in air. The postdoctoral researcher will work on two main developments: a drug-screening method based on encapsulated cells, and tuning hydrogel porosity to support neuronal axon growth. This part of the work is carried out in collaboration with a PhD student developing chemical strategies to control hydrogel porosity. The project is embedded in a consortium involving ESPCI Paris, the Institut Mondor de recherche biomédicale, and the CEA imaging group.