Research Networks

Romain LHERMEROUT: Deputy coordinator

Interfacial Soft Matter (ISM) is a research network (“Groupement de recherche”, GDR) from the CNRS. The network was created in January 2021 and renewed in 2026. It is steered by Hélène Berthoumieux (Gulliver, Paris), Vincent Ladmiral (ICGM, Montpellier), Marie Le Merrer (ILM, Lyon), Romain Lhermerout (LIPhy, Grenoble), Joshua McGraw (Gulliver, Paris) and Rémi Mérindol (L2C, Montpellier)

The mission of ISM is to bring together the French community studying the structure and dynamics of the many forms of interfacial soft matter. ISM aims to be a forum for the French and international communities – from physics, chemistry and engineering using a diverse set of experimental, theoretical and computational tools – to create a dynamics for gathering and exchanging ideas.

The organization and dynamics of soft materials can be deeply altered in the vicinity of an interface since the interaction energies there are typically of the same order of magnitude as those involved in the bulk material. Similarly for the bulk, many soft materials and biological entities can be pictured as “made of interfaces”: systems such as suspensions of particles or droplets are formed of mesoscale objects interacting via intermolecular and surface forces, the details of which control the macroscopic material properties. Interfaces are indeed at the heart of a wealth of challenging problems in today’s soft matter science, from DNA transcription, to friction and lubrication, charge regulation, and “smart” functional layers requiring novel syntheses. Additionally, many non-equilibrium systems give rise to spontaneous mobility of particles without the need for an external action. All of these systems, by virtue of their grouping under the heading of “soft”, typically bear the signatures of thermal agitation. Combining all of these
ingredients, the GDR Interfacial Soft Matter (ISM) was created.

The main topics addressed by ISM are broadly divided into 4 themes:

• Mechanics of soft interfaces
• Complex, non-equilibrium interfaces
• Confinement
• Functional interfaces

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Cyril Picard: Member of the steering committee

The objective of the Micro and Nano Fluidics research network (“Groupement de recherche”, GDR) is to bring together actors from public research and from the industrial and associative sectors on animation and prospective objectives within a multidisciplinary community, active and visible at the European and international level. The GDR covers the scientific communities of physics, process engineering, micro and nanotechnologies, (bio)chemistry and biology. This interdisciplinarity gives it its own identity also characterized by a strong potential of development and technological valorization. The GDR is a dynamic structure, representative of the different disciplines involved. It is directed by Pierre Joseph and organized into 6 scientific themes, led by the GDR steering committee:

• Nanofluidics (Fabien Montel, Cyril Picard, Christophe Ybert)
• Microfluidics for diagnosis and clinical applications (Karla Perez-Toralla, Magalie Faivre, Stéphanie Descroix)
• Organ-on-chip, cell biology on chip (Morgan Delarue, Stéphanie Descroix, Vincent Studer, Pierre Joseph, Vincent Senez)
• Flow chemistry (Sébastien Teychené, Samuel Marre)
• Wave and flow interactions (Michael Baudouin, Ulysse Delabre, Philippe Marmottant)
• Heat and mass transfers (Jean-Baptiste Salmon, Olivier Liot, Pierre Joseph, Sébastien Teychené, Stéphane Colin).