One of the cornerstones of the 'Bioeconomy' will rest on our ability to exploit renewable carbon resources to produce environmental eco-friendly fuels and chemicals that will profitably replace those derived at present from fossil resources. The POLYDHB project is in frame with this endeavour. This project originality stands on previous works carried out by two partners of this proposal which have exploited synthetic biology toolbox combined to metabolic and enzymes engineering to construct a synthetic pathway that leads to the microbial production of a non-naturally metabolite 2,4-dihydroxybutyric acid (DHB) from renewable carbon sources (i.e. sugars). Initially conceived as a precursor for the synthesis of the methionine to target the field of animal nutrition, this molecule actually turns out to be a unique ‘green’ platform chemical for the production of other bio-based products with application in chemical and pharmaceutical industries. The purpose of the POLYDHB project is here to demonstrate that DHB can be used as an original non-natural monomer for the production of new bio-sourced and biodegradable polymers. The scientific and technical challenges of this project will be realized through three workpackages: (I) production of pure enantiomers and lactide /lactone derived from DHB, (II) development of a chemocatalytic process of (co)polymerisation of DHB and/or its lactone and lactide derivatives alone or with other monomers, and (III) conception of a microbial process for the synthesis of DHB-based polymers. In each of these workpackages, scientific risks have been identified and contingency solutions clearly proposed. To succeed in this objective, a multidisciplinary and complementary core of expert in the field of Systems and Synthetic Biology (LISBP, Toulouse), Polymer Chemistry (LCPO, Bordeaux) with the participation of a Japanese team expert in molecular biology of bio-sourced polymers has been set-up. Moreover, the strong commitment of the industrial partner Adisseo in this project is not solely justified by its indispensable position in mastering the chemical and microbial process for DHB production, but it is also an asset for the industrial exploitation of this molecule on markets other than nutrition animal that can be opened from the results obtained in this project. The ambition of POLYDHB project is to reach the technology readiness level of 4 within the 3 years period.

The Dynametafluid Project aims at developing a microfluidic device for real time and clonal evaluation of metabolic and energetic balance shifts in engineered microbes within controllable and adjustable microenvironments. Each microorganism is encapsulated into a growth medium droplet that acts as an individual micro-bioreactor. For osmotic reasons, evolution of the size of the droplets is directly related to cell energetics. Hence, growth of a single cell into a population and its metabolism are tracked at the same time. Subpopulations of growing cells will be differentially submitted to metabolic perturbations resulting either from light or temperature-induced recombinant gene expression, changes in oxygen or carbon dioxide concentrations, or chemical stresses and their physiological response dynamically analyzed. Based on real time windowed multi-parametric analysis, individual droplets will be selected and recovered to allow complementary genomic and transcriptomic analyses down to single cell level. Genotype, metabolic and transcriptional status of pseudo-clones will be compared in high throughput conditions allowing the establishement of genotype-phenotype relationships at the level of subpopulations of variable sizes. Following a careful validation phase of the hardware involving simple models of recombinant microorganisms (yeast and E. coli), microbial models more representative of metabolic engineering of industrial interest will be designed and analyzed. Among basic questions, consequences of stochastic events affecting single or multistep metabolic engineering directed by episomal vectors will be addressed in relation to the type of vectors and mode of metabolic coupling (intra- or inter-cells) under positive, negative and triggered selections. A focus will be performed on different types of short term (copy number, transcriptional) and long term (genetic drift) adaptive mechanisms that will be characterized both at phenotype, genotype and transcriptome levels. In the last phase of the project, the validated technology will be transferred onto the site of biologist partners for out-of-project use in basic and industrial projects. The project involves three internationally recognized complementary partners specialized in microfluidic, omics and genetic engineering respectively and takes place in close vicinity and interaction with the industry oriented TWB transfer structure.

Nitrogen protoxide (N2O) is a powerful greenhouse gas (GHG), with an impact 300 times higher than carbon dioxide, contributing significantly to global warming. Microbial processes (nitrification or denitrification) in soils or water contribute significantly to the production of N2O. To date, the contribution of wastewater management is still controversial as N2O emissions were poorly measured in wastewater treatment plants. Recent campaigns demonstrated however that the values assumed by the IPPC are much lower than reality. Moreover intensification of nitrogen removal in wastewater treatment and innovation for minimizing energy consumption can potentially increase the N2O emissions if nitrification and denitrification are insufficiently controlled with appropriate tools. This project aims to quantify, model and reduce N2O emissions from wastewater treatment facilities. The ambition of the project is to evaluate solutions in intensive processes receiving domestic wastewater which are used for nutrient removal. The project is divided in different tasks: (1) monitoring of full scale systems during long term campaigns, (2) tracking the main microbial pathways by innovative techniques (isotopes signature and NO:N2O ratio), (3) validation of a multiple pathway model for simulation and evaluation of mitigation strategies, (4) demonstration of innovative sensors and control tools for energy reduction and N2O mitigation. N2OTRACK will provide representative and objective information on direct greenhouse gas emissions from depollution systems. The contribution of these systems to the national anthropogenic N2O emissions will be estimated. Special effort will be deployed on biofilters at full scale, systems poorly characterized so far. The aim is also to provide an N2O modelling framework validated by lab-scale data with isotopic signature measurements and calibrated by full scale campaigns. Finally innovative control tools based on well-known and new sensors will be developed for both activated sludge processes and biofilters. The project involves six partners: three academic laboratories (LISBP-INSA, IEES-UPMC, RBPE-ECOBIO), one applied research institute (IRSTEA), a large WWTP facility (SIAAP-Paris) and a private company SME (BIOTRADE).

The project SHAIR aims to define the drilling of the future, and its place in the technical and social organization of the company. It is particularly positioned in the aeronautics sector. Indeed, on the production and assembly lines, this operation takes an important place since it intervenes on parts with very high added value. Its control is therefore a major economic stake. Added to this issue is the fact that fastener housing holes are prime sites for fatigue crack initiation, therefore quality control (in terms of surface integrity and material integrity) is a really strong requirement. In this context, we wish, through our project, to design the Smart drilling - drilling of the future: first, a pair of digital twins “process” and “machine” will be developed, to predict and guarantee in real-time the quality of drilled holes and to monitor the machine fleet. It will be linked to the "real" process through multi-sensor instrumentation which will provide information in quantity, which will have to be sorted and processed in order to produce relevant indicators (KPIs) to help decision-making. In parallel with these scientific and technical developments, we will study how the deployment of the technology of the future for drilling impacts the social organization of the company via the resulting re-composition of professions. Indeed, we know that these technologies can be badly accepted by the actors of the production, in particular the operators. We will therefore seek to define different integration scenarios for this technology (operator more or less involved and empowered, decision-making at different levels - operator, supervisor, production manager) in order to study the social impact. The objective is then to define overall performance criteria (technico-social) allowing the optimal deployment of technology in the company.

Rigid touch screens have invaded our day-to-day lives in the form of smartphones, tablets, GPS, MP3 players or cameras. From 2014, flexible screens will hit the market. However, implementation of the touch function to this new generation of screens is a technological bottle-neck attracting several manufacturers due to an enormous potential market for this technology. In 2010, the Laboratoire de Physique et Chimie des Nano-Objets (LPCNO) of Toulouse and the firm NANOMADE CONCEPT from Toulouse patented an innovative technology that exploits nanotechnologies to meet this challenge. This technology which earned the first prize of the ‘Inn'Ovations Midi-Pyrénées 2010’ contest in the ‘Innovation and Future’ category concerns with the fabrication of flexible touch surfaces that can be easily integrated into screens and other devices, based on a matrix of nanoparticle-based resistive strain gauges. The multi-point touch feature, sensitive to the intensity of the force applied on these surfaces is based on the variation of the electric tunneling conductivity within localized and closed-packed assemblies of colloidal nanoparticles prepared by chemical synthesis. The objective of the NanoFlexiTouch project is to develop resistive flexible touch-sensitive surfaces based on nanoparticles, as a complete break away from the existing technologies. To achieve the ambitious goals of this project in proceeding forward from the proof of concept of this technology to designing a functional module, a major research and development work has to be undertaken. The LPCNO working at the interface of physics/chemistry, will exploit its expertise in the chemical synthesis of colloidal nanoparticles and their directed assembly on various surfaces for constructing nanoparticle-based strain sensors which would serve as building blocks for elaborating touch-sensitive flexible surfaces. The Institut d'Electronique, de Microélectronique et de Nanotechnologie (IEMN) of Lille will use its proven experience in electrical characterization by scanning probe microscopy under ultrahigh vacuum conditions and low temperature to understand the electrical conduction mechanisms in the nanoparticle assemblies constituting the active zones of these gauges. Finally, NANOMADE CONCEPT with the support of LPCNO for the elaboration of nanoparticle-based strain gauges and IEMN for micro-nanofabrication, will develop the flexible touch-sensitive surfaces from matrix of nanoparticle-based strain gauges. They will also develop the electronics and information interface required for the device and ensure its evaluation. The collaboration of these three units, with established expertise in complementary areas of research, physics / chemistry / nanotechnologies / electronics will be a huge advantage for effectively achieving the goals of this project.