Institut Charles Sadron News

Since February, the ICS welcomes Christophe Chassenieux, initially as a member of PECMAT and later as the head of the Institute in 2024.

After 7 years in Jussieu as a lecturer, Christophe was appointed as a Professor at IMMM-Le Mans in 2005. Christophe is a soft matter physical chemist who focuses on the morphological and dynamic control of various types of systems (emulsions, dispersions, hydrogels) through the use of ingredients (amphiphilic polymers, polysaccharides, proteins, surfactants, colloids) whose temper are ruled by several types of interactions when mixed together. Some of the results he is proud of are related to the self-assembly at thermodynamic equilibrium of amphiphilic block copolymers resulting in hydrogels displaying relaxation times spanning over 11 orders of magnitude; the use of liq/liq phase separation for designing water in water emulsions and protein microcapsules or finally to the gelation of dense dispersions.

At the ICS, he will still investigate the self-assembly of (bio)polymers in water but also in deep eutectic solvents in order to promote properties of interest at various length and time scales through a careful control of both their dynamics, morphology and rheological feature. He will put the focus on compartmentalisation, encapsulation/delivery of actives and their transport. He will also complement his work on the formation of microparticules through the weathering of plastics in sea water and in the recovery/re-use of colloidal photo catalysts. Many of these topics are fully in line with the concerns of GDR CNRS/INRAE “Sustainability and bio-sourced materials” which Christophe manages together with I. Capron @BIA/INRAE-Nantes and will be funded by ANR. Christophe hopes to collaborate on these topics with the ICS members, but would also be delighted to contribute to ongoing and future research projects at the ICS.

Christophe enjoys making stain glass work of Tiffany type, loves rabbits, choir singing and reading novels. Since he has only time left for 1200 of them, he will appreciate all good advise regarding them for optimizing the remaining time (his favourite authors are P. Roth, J. Eugenides, T. Morrison, J. Franzen, N. Mathieu, J. Ellroy, A. Zeniter, O. Tokarczuc, E. Carrère et J. Echenoz).