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Place Amphi Dorothy Hodgkin
Title:
Photoswitchable fluorescent nanosystems with giant amplification
Resume:
The thesis project consists of designing, studying and implementing photoswitchable fluorescent nanomaterials, in the frame of a new 'Auto-Super-Resolution' imaging methodology. Indeed, the combination of a large number of photochromic and fluorescent molecules within the same nanosystem must effectively modulate the fluorescence response. The collective effects resulting from the multiple intermolecular energy transfer processes are expected to induce a non-linear threshold effect of the fluorescence photoswitching (giant amplification) that can be exploited for fluorescence microscopy. In this context, the thesis work will include the following aspects: (i) synthesis of fluorescent and photochromic molecules (positive or negative type), selected for their robustness, brightness, photo-conversion efficiency and spectral overlap, in collaboration with two groups of Japanese collaborators; (ii) preparation of nanomaterials, organic or hybrid, incorporating variable proportions of fluorophores and photochromes; (iii) study of the properties of the resulting nano-objects, such as their size, their photophysical behavior under light irradiation, in order to identify, quantify and optimize the mechanisms at the origin of the giant amplification; (iv) exploitation of these properties by confocal microscopy combined with atomic force microscopy, to induce and characterize finely the expected 'Auto-Super-Resolution' effect.
This work is available online.