L’objectif de cette thèse était d'étudier les propriétés physico-chimiques de réseaux interpénétrés formés par auto-assemblage de copolymères à blocs amphiphiles stimulables. La première partie du travail a consisté à élaborer des hydrogels interpénétrés IPSAN (InterPenetrated Self-Assembled Network) à partir d’un simple mélange de copolymères triblocs associatifs. Ainsi, l’IPSAN correspond à une combinaison des deux réseaux polymères. Le premier réseau est formé par un copolymère tribloc à base de poly(oxyde d'éthylène) (tPOE) porteur de blocs hydrophobes polymérisables sous UV. Le deuxième réseau est constitué d’un copolyélectrolyte tribloc pH sensible à base de poly(acide acrylique) (TH50).L’influence des concentrations en copolymères et du pH sur la structure et les propriétés mécaniques des hydrogels IPSAN a été systématiquement étudiée. Dans une deuxième partie, nous nous sommes intéressés à l'influence de la formation d'un réseau transitoire sur la séparation de phases dans des mélanges de tPOE et de polymères linéaires en solution aqueuse. Cette étude a mis en évidence une augmentation de l'incompatibilité entre les deux polymères induite par l’association du copolymère tribloc. Ce système a permis l'élaboration d'hydrogels macroporeux photo-réticulables.Enfin, la diffusion de polymères linéaires et de particules solides micrométriques dans des réseaux de copolymères pH-sensibles a été étudiée par des techniques de recouvrement de fluorescence après photobleaching (FRAP) et de diffusion dynamique de la lumière. La formation du réseau transitoire ralentit le mouvement de traceurs linéaires de petite taille de la même manière que dans le cas d'hydrogels covalents. Le contrôle de la structure et de la dynamique du réseau par le pH est un levier puissant pour contrôler la diffusion dans ces hydrogels. / The objective of this thesis was to investigate the physical chemical properties of interpenetrating networks formed by self-association of responsive amphiphilic block copolymers. The first part of the work was to develop IPSAN hydrogels(InterPenetrated Self-Assembled Network) simply by mixing two triblock copolymers. Thus, the IPSAN corresponds to a combination of the two polymer networks. The first network is formed by a triblock copolymer based on poly(ethylene oxide) (tPEO) bearing UV-cross-linkable hydrophobic blocks. The second network consists of a pH-sensitive triblock polyelectrolyte based on poly(acrylic acid) (TH50). The influence of the concentration of the copolymers and of the pH on the structure and the mechanical properties of the IPSAN has been systematically studied. In the second part we investigated the influence ofthe formation of a transient network on the phase separation in mixtures of tPEO and linear polymers in aqueous solution. This study revealed an increase of the incompatibility between the two polymers induced by the association of the triblock copolymer. This system enabled the elaboration of photo-cross-linked macroporous hydrogels. Finally, the diffusion of linear polymers and solid particles in pH-sensitive networks was studied by fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP)and dynamic light scattering. The formation of a transient network restricts the movement of small linear tracers in the same way as a covalent hydrogel would. The control of the structure and dynamics of the network by the pH is a powerful tool to control the diffusion in this hydrogels.

This thesis discusses the inverse problem associated with the propagation of field autocorrelation of light through a highly scattering object like tissue. In the first part of the thesis we consider the mathematical issues involved in inverting boundary measurements made from diffuse propagation of light through highly scattering objects for their optical and mechanical properties. We present the convergence analysis of the Gauss-Newton algorithm for the recovery of object properties applicable for both diffuse correlation tomography (DCT) and diffuse optical tomography (DOT). En route to this, we establish the existence of solution and Frechet differentiability of the forward propagation equation. The two cases of the delta source and the Gaussian source illuminations are considered separately and the smoothness of solution of the forward equation in these cases is established. Considering DCT as an example, we establish the feasibility of recovering the particle diffusion coefficient (DB ) through minimizing the data-model mismatch of the field autocorrelation at the boundary using the Gauss-Newton algorithm. Some numerical examples validating the theoretical results are also presented. In the second part of the thesis, we reconstruct optical absorption coefficient, µa, and particle diffusion coefficient, DB , from simulated measurements which are integrals of a quantity computed from the measured intensity and intensity autocorrelation g2(τ ) at the boundary. We also recovered the mean square displacement (MSD) distribution of particles in an inhomogeneous object from the sampled g2(τ ) measured on the boundary. From the MSD, we compute the storage and loss moduli distributions in the object. We have devised computationally easy methods to construct the sensitivity matrices which are used in the iterative reconstruction algorithms for recovering these parameters from these measurements. The results of reconstruction of inhomogeneities in µa, DB , MSD and the visco-elastic parameters, which are presented, show forth reasonably good positional and quantitative accuracy. Finally we introduce a self regularized pseudo-dynamic scheme to solve the above inverse problem, which has certain advantages over the usual minimization method employing a variant of the Newton algorithm. The computational difficulties involved in the inversion of ill-conditioned matrices arising in the nonlinear inverse DCT problem are avoided by introducing artificial dynamics and considering the solution to be the steady-state response (if it exists) of the artificially evolving dynamical system, represented by ordinary differential equations (ODE) in pseudo-time. We show that the asymptotic solution obtained through the pseudo-time marching converges to the optimal solution which minimizes a mean-square error functional, provided the Hessian of the forward equation is positive definite in the neighborhood of this optimal solution. The superior noise tolerance and regularization-insensitive nature of pseudo-dynamic strategy are proven through numerical simulations in the context of DCT.

abstract: Cytometry is a method used to measure and collect the physical and chemical characteristics of a population of cells. In modern medical settings, the trend of precision and personalized medicines has imposed a need for rapid point-of-care diagnostic technologies. A rapid cytometric method, which aims at detecting and analyzing cells in direct patient samples, is therefore desirable. This dissertation presents the development of light-scattering-based imaging methods for detecting and analyzing cells and applies the technology in four applications. The first application is tracking phenotypic features of single particles, thereby differentiating bacterial cells from non-living particles in a label-free manner. The second application is a culture-free antimicrobial susceptibility test that rapidly tracks multiple, antimicrobial-induced phenotypic changes of bacterial cells with results obtained within 30 – 90 minutes. The third application is rapid antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) of bacterial cell growth directly in-patient urine samples, without a pre-culture step, within 90 min. This technology demonstrated rapid (90 min) detection of Escherichia coli in 24 clinical urine samples with 100% sensitivity and 83% specificity and rapid (90 min) AST in 12 urine samples with 87.5% categorical agreement with two antibiotics, ampicillin and ciprofloxacin. The fourth application is a multi-dimensional imaging cytometry system that integrates multiple light sources from different angles to simultaneously capture time-lapse, forward scattering and side scattering images of blood cells. The system has demonstrated capacity to detect red blood cell agglutination, assess red blood cell lysis, and differentiate red and white blood cells for potential implementation in clinical hematology analyses. These large-volume, light-scattering cytometric technologies can be used and applied in clinical and research settings to study, detect, and analyze cells. These studies developed rapid point-of-care diagnostic and imaging technologies for collectively advancing modern medicine and global health. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Chemistry 2020

Protein pharmaceuticals is one of the fastest growing class of therapeutics today. However, they pose a lot of challenges in production lines due to their poor stability. Protein aggregation is one of the most common results of protein instability and is a risk factor regarding the quality of therapeutics. This master thesis at RISE focused on validating the techniques Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS) and multi angle DLS (MADLS) with respect to detection of aggregation. The model protein B-lactoglobulin was used to assess the robustness and accuracy of DLS. A comparison between two instruments from Malvern, Zetasizer Nano (2006) and Zetasizer Ultra (2018) was done with respect to DLS. It was determined that they were in many ways equivalent, but the newer model Ultra was favourable due to reduced noise and its ability to detect a lower concentration of aggregates. MADLS produced more precise results which is reflected in narrower distributions and has a higher sensitivity than DLS with regards to separating particles near in size. Both techniques proved sensitive enough to differentiate between aggregates and native protein. Experimental trials were performed with an active pharmaceutical ingredient, API. The experimental trials with the API aimed to investigate what conditions and surface-interfaces that might pose a risk for aggregation. Despite efforts put in creating an environment where aggregation could be monitored, aggregation could not be established. Measurements with the API generated less reliable results due to noisy data and a lack of reproducibility between individual measurements.

Au cours de ce travail de thèse, sur l'hydrodynamique de l'écoulement dans le un réacteur continu, où les propriétés des nanomatériaux élaborés dépendent des caractéristiques morphologiques et structurales de la solution colloïdale issue du réacteur, nous avons d'abord optimisé les conditions d'utilisation (Re ≈ 6000), ainsi que la géométrie du T-mélange dans le but d'améliorer la qualité du micro-mélange. Ensuite, des mesures expérimentales ont permis de vérifier que la condition de Damköhler est respectée (Da ≤ 1). Enfin, ce résultat a été validé numériquement. Au delà de cette valeur de Re critique (Re* ≈ 8000), nous avons mis en évidence le phénomène de cavitation dans le T-mélange. Ce phénomène à été étudié expérimentalement, par des mesures SLS, et numériquement par des simulations CFD. Les résultats obtenus par ces deux approches concordent. Enfin, des mesures DLS ont été effectuées pour étudier et caractériser les bulles de cavitation. Ces dernières ont permis d'évaluer la taille des bulles ainsi que leur trajectoire le long de l'axe Z à la sortie du T-mélange. Cette étude a été suivie par des simulations numériques de la cavitation et du modèle multiphasique dans notre écoulement. Les deux études, expérimentale et numérique, ont confirmé que la diminution de l'intensité de la lumière diffusée mesurée par SLS le long de l'axe Z est due à l'évolution du nombre et de la taille des bulles / During this Phd work, on the hydrodynamics of flow in a continuous reactor, where the properties of the elaborated nanomaterials depend on the morphological and structural characteristics of the colloidal solution out coming from the reactor, we first optimized the conditions of use of the latter (Re ≈ 6000), as well as the geometry of the T-mixer in order to improve the quality of the micro-mixing. Then, experimental measurements allowed us to verify that the condition of Damköhler is respected (Da ≤ 1). Finally, this result has been validated numerically. Beyond this Re critical value (Re * ≈ 8000), we have highlighted the phenomenon of cavitations in the T-mixer. This phenomenon has been studied experimentally, by SLS measurements, and numerically by CFD simulation. The results obtained by these two approaches are in agreement. Finally, DLS measurements were made to study and characterize cavitations bubbles. These measurements allowed us to evaluate the size of the bubbles as well as their trajectory along the Z axis 121 at the outlet of the T-mixer. This study was followed by numerical simulations of the cavitations and the multiphase model in our flow. Both experimental and numerical studies confirmed that the decrease in the intensity of scattered light measured by SLS along the Z axis is result to the changes of the number and the size of bubbles.

Lab-on-Chip, the miniaturization of the chemical and analytical lab, is an endeavor that seems to come out of science fiction yet is slowly becoming a reality. It is a multidisciplinary field that combines different areas of science and engineering. Within these areas, microfluidics is a specialized field that deals with the behavior, control and manipulation of small volumes of fluids. Agglutination assays are rapid, single-step, low-cost immunoassays that use microspheres to detect a wide variety molecules and pathogens by using a specific antigen-antibody interaction. Agglutination assays are particularly suitable for the miniaturization and automation that two-phase microfluidics can offer, a combination that can help tackle the ever pressing need of high-throughput screening for blood banks, epidemiology, food banks diagnosis of infectious diseases. In this thesis, we present a two-phase microfluidic system capable of incubating and quantifying agglutination assays. The microfluidic channel is a simple fabrication solution, using laboratory tubing. These assays are incubated by highly efficient passive mixing with a sample-to-answer time of 2.5 min, a 5-10 fold improvement over traditional agglutination assays. It has a user-friendly interface that that does not require droplet generators, in which a pipette is used to continuously insert assays on-demand, with no down-time in between experiments at 360 assays/h. System parameters are explored, using the streptavidin-biotin interaction as a model assay, with a minimum detection limit of 50 ng/mL using optical image analysis. We compare optical image analysis and light scattering as quantification methods, and demonstrate the first light scattering quantification of agglutination assays in a two-phase ow format. The application can be potentially applied to other biomarkers, which we demonstrate using C-reactive protein (CRP) assays. Using our system, we can take a commercially available CRP qualitative slide agglutination assay, and turn it into a quantitative High Sensitivity-CRP test, with a lower detection limit of 0.5 mg/L using light scattering. Agglutination assays are an incredibly versatile tool, capable of detecting an ever-growing catalog of infectious diseases, proteins and metabolites. A system such as that presented in this thesis is a step towards being able to produce high throughput microfluidic solutions with widespread adoption.

Practical combustion devices such as gas turbines and diesel engines operate at high pressures to increase their efficiency. Pressure significantly increases the overall soot yield. Morphology of these ultra-fine particles determines their airborne lifetime and their interaction with the human respiratory system. Therefore, investigating soot morphology at high pressure is of practical relevance. In this work, a novel experimental setup has been designed and built to study the soot morphology at elevated pressures. The experimental setup consists of a pressure vessel, which can provide optical access from 10° to 165° for multi-angle light scattering, and a counterflow burner which produces laminar flames at elevated pressures. In the first part of the study, N2-diluted ethylene/air and ethane air counterflow flames are stabilized from 2 to 5 atm. Two-angle light scattering and extinction technique have been used to study the effects of pressure on soot parameters. Path averaged soot volume fraction is found to be very sensitive to pressure and increased significantly from 2 to 5 atm. Primary particle size and aggregate size also increased with pressure. Multi-angle light scattering is also performed and flames are investigated from 3 to 5 atm. Scattering to absorption ratio is calculated from multi-angle light scattering and extinction data. Scattering to absorption ratio increased with pressure whereas the number of primary particles in an aggregate decreased with increasing pressure. In the next part of the study, Thermophoretic Sampling of soot is performed, in counterflow flames from 3 to 10 atm, followed by transmission electron microscopy. Mean primary particle size increased with pressure and these trends are consistent withour light scattering measurements. Fractal properties of soot aggregates are found to be insensitive to pressure. 2D diffused light line of sight attenuation (LOSA) and Laser Induced Incandescence (LII) are used to measure local soot volume fraction from 2 to 10 atm. Local soot volume fraction increased with pressure and soot concentration profiles showed good agreements when measured by both techniques. Experimental data obtained in this work is very helpful for the modelers for validating their codes and predicting the soot formation in pressurized flames.

The scope of this masters thesis is the preparation of a model mucin system and its utilization as an artificial model of the native mucus system. The creation of this model system, according to several designed methods was a part of experimental part of the thesis. The preparation of mucin system comprised of physical and chemical methods of hydrogel formation, screening and characterisation of the various physical conditions of the mucin properties on its molecular level, and the preparation of sorbent with sorption surface containing mucin. Methods of light scattering, namely dynamic light scattering (DLS), used for mucin particles size change monitoring, and electroforetic light scattering (ELS), used for Zeta potential change monitoring, were used for the screening of the impact of physical factors on the properties of mucin.For the characterisation of impact of the temperature on changes in mucin sctructure was, apart from monitoring of light scattering, used also a diferential scanning calorimetry (DSC), which registered temperature value, at which mucin thermal denaturation occurs. In the next part of the thesis we subdued the created sorption surfaces to various physical-chemical analyses, which task is the characterisation and projection of surface and confirmation of mucin presence.Substancial part in monitoring and characterisation of changes in surface sctructure of sorption surface was accomplished by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Scanning electron microscophy (SEM) was used for the final, more detailed, projection of the mucin enriched, sorbent surface structure. Suggested methods of mucin hydrogel, didnt prove sufficient results for the possibility of application of hydrogel as a artificial model of real mucus system, but the sorbent application was indicated as a suitable alternative and an instrument for the further mucin behaviour research and possibly subsequent bacterial adhesion, which represents the first step in the formation of the bacterial biofilm.

Le procédé de photopolymérisation a été optimisé en vue de l’élaboration de matériaux composites à matrice époxyde épais (> 1 mm) via un mécanisme cationique. L’étude des cinétiques de photopolymérisation de deux résines époxydes (glycidyl éther et cycloaliphatique) a montré que l’ajout d’un renfort de microsphères de silice induit un gradient de conversion dans l’épaisseur du matériau en raison d’un phénomène d’absorption et/ou de diffusion de la lumière, ce dernier étant d’autant plus important que l’écart d’indice de réfraction entre la charge et la matrice est élevé. Cependant, cette hétérogénéité de conversion a pu être compensée par une réaction de postpolymérisation à température ambiante. Une analyse des propriétés mécaniques a ensuite montré qu’il est possible d’obtenir par photopolymérisation des matériaux composites épais réticulés de façon homogène et dont la rigidité est augmentée par la présence du renfort. Enfin, la stratégie d’égalisation des indices de réfraction de la charge et de la matrice, couplée à une photopolymérisation cationique frontale induite par voie radicalaire (RICFP), ouvre des perspectives intéressantes en vue de l’élaboration de photocomposites de plusieurs centimètres d’épaisseur en appliquant uniquement un stimulus lumineux. / The photopolymerization process has been optimized for the elaboration of thick epoxy composite materials (> 1 mm) through a cationic mechanism. The study of the photopolymerization kinetics of two epoxy resins (glycidyl ether and cycloaliphatic) has shown that the addition of a silica microsphere reinforcement induced conversion gradient in the material thickness, resulting from a light absorption and/or scattering phenomenon. The light scattering is all the more important as the refractive index gap between filler and matrix is high. However, this conversion heterogeneity has been compensated by a postpolymerization reaction at room temperature. Then, the analysis of the mechanical properties has shown that it was possible to obtain thick composite materials homogeneously crosslinked and whose rigidity was increased by the presence of the filler. In addition, the strategy of equalizing the filler and matrix refractive indices, coupled with the radical induced cationic frontal polymerization (RICFP) opens interesting perspectives for the development of photocomposites several centimeters thick using only a light stimulus.

AABBSSTTRRAACCTT Phosducin (Pdc) is a highly conserved acidic phosphoprotein, which plays an important role in the regulation of G-protein signalization in intact retina. It binds to Gβγ dimer of heterotrimeric G-protein transducin thereby decreases the pool of available transducin resulting in modulation of signal. Function of phosducin is negatively regulated by its phosphorylation followed by interaction with the 14-3-3 protein. Besides this established way of regulation, we were interested in other putative interaction partners of phosducin, like SUG1 and CRX. SUG1 is a subunit of 26S proteasome with a large scale of biological functions, especially a degradation of many transription factors. Its role in regulation of phosducin is still unclear, but is probably involved in targeting of phosducin to 26S proteasome for its degradation. Subsequently, we prepared four different expression constructs of full-length protein in order to find the best expression and purification strategy. These results suggest that all purified fusion proteins of SUG1 form stable and soluble high molecular weight oligomers. This behaviour was confirmed by dynamic light scattering and analytical ultracentrifugation measurements. In addition, this observation is consistent with previous studies of its bacterial counterpart, PAN...