Technology

Technology in the LCB is organized through autonomous services mainly the IAM group. Several ideas led to the creation of a scientific services group dedicated to Instrumentation and data Analysis in Microbiology (IAM). The first is the evolution of the laboratory’s microscopy and image analysis facility, with the aim of extending and generalizing to other instruments and technologies working methods and forms of collaboration that have yet been. A second idea is to gather a team of 5 people having in common a “technological” approach to research, that is to say having a real passion for exploration and creation or adaptation of instrumental and analytical tools for specific needs in microbiology.

Unlike a standard microscopy service where most of the activity is devoted to user training and equipment maintenance, our microscopy facility had operated in two different ways: through long-term scientific collaborations (several years) with a limited number of teams, and as a core facility providing assistance and trainings to all teams in the lab and outside the lab. Indeed, thanks to the small number and homogeneity of devices (2 video microscopes of the same brand), the very good technical level of the PhD students and post-docs hired in the laboratory and the self-training within the teams, I was able to devote 90% of our activity to the development of analytical techniques and scientific collaborations.

The team operates in two complementary modes: assistance, training and support for certain devices under our responsibility, and long-term scientific collaborations with other teams for innovative instrumentation and analysis solutions. The collaborations are carried by one of the members according to the required expertise and the concerned field:

• Microscopy and Image Analysis by Léon Espinosa (IAM group),
• Data and image analysis, Deep Learning, mathematical modeling by Swapnesh Panigrahi (IAM group),
• Automation and screening by Jean-Raphael Fantino (IAM group),
• Cytometry and biochemical methods by Gael Brasseur (IAM group),
• IT, Microelectronics and 3D printing by Philippe Notareschi(IAM group),
• Genomics and Transcriptomics by Romain Mercier (Mignot Team), Nicolas Ginet (Ansaldi Team) et Lionel Bertaux.
• Microfluidics with Nicolas Waisbord (Wu Team) and Pierre Bohec (Centuri)