Emmanuèle Helfer

Activity

Cell mechanics / Red blood cell / Biomimetism / Membranes / Cell Biology / Microscopy / Microfluidics

Themes

Physics of living systems

Cell mechanics and dynamics

Membrane Physics

Biomimetism, in vitro reconstitution of cellular processes

Recherche

1. Cell dynamics and mechanics (collab. Annie Viallat and Anne Charrier)

- Red Blood Cells (RBCs) in flow (single cell and collective behavior)

- RBCs and cells under mechanical stress (single cell, cell monolayer, cell aggregates)

- Healthy vs pathological cells

Techniques: microfluidics, acoustics, optical microscopy, micromanipulation, cell biology (cell culture, immunofluorescence)

2. Biomimetism: In vitro reconstitution of cellular processes involved in cell membrane organization and remodelling (collab. Kheya Sengupta)

- cell adhesion

Techniques: optical microscopy (epifluorescence, confocal microscopy, phase contrast, DIC), micromanipulation, synthetic membranes (GUVs, supported bilayers)

Parcours

Since her PhD, Emmanuèle Helfer was interested in the various interactions between cell membranes and actin, a ubiquitous protein which is strongly involved in mechanical and dynamic properties of cells.
She did her PhD in Strasbourg University with Didier Chatenay and Laurent Bourdieu, working on the viscoelastic properties of actin-coated vesicles mimicking solid shells.
In 2001 she obtained a CNRS position in the 'Cytoskeleton and Cell Motility' group in the Laboratoire d'Enzymologie et Biochimie Structurales (LEBS, Gif-sur-Yvette, France) where she worked on biomimetic reconstitution of actin-based motile processes.
In 2010 she moved to the 'Cytoskeleton and Cell Morphogenesis' group (LEBS) where she studied the role of actin structures on intracellular endosomal membranes by combining cell biology and biochemical approaches.
She joined the 'Physics and Engineering for Living Systems' Department in CINaM in 2014, where she now studies mechanics of physiological and pathological cells using microflduics approaches.