Physics of Cells and Cancer research unit celebrates 30 years: looking back at a scientific gamble that became a laboratory

“UMR168’s history shows Institut Curie’s Research Center’s ability to bring new fields into being, sometimes before they are fully recognized. Today, this unit remains a strong example of the kind of research we want to encourage: rigorous, open to other disciplines, and capable of transforming our understanding of living systems and cancer,” says Dr. Claire Rougeulle¹, Director of Institut Curie’s Research Center.

In the mid-1990s, the idea was far from obvious. Genetics was shaping much of biological research, while the human genome sequencing was beginning to redefine scientific priorities. At Institut Curie, however, a different path was emerging: approaching the cell as a living system whose organization, movements, and interactions could also be understood through the tools and concepts of physics.
Appointed Director of Institut Curie’s Research Center in 1993, Prof. Daniel Louvard²championed this vision at a time when the scientific landscape was still largely unprepared for such interdisciplinary dialogue. In his view, cell biology provided the ideal entry point for bringing physicists closer to living systems.

“The cell was the right meeting ground,” he recalls. “It allowed us to ask questions about shape, movement, organization, and interactions with the environment, to which physics could bring concepts and tools.”

The creation at Institut Curie of the  Cell Biology and Cancer unit (CNRS UMR144 / Sorbonne Université), in 1995 provided a decisive anchor point. 
The following year, this momentum led to the creation of the Physics of Cells and Cancer unit (CNRS UMR168 / Sorbonne Université), then founded under the name Physical Chemistry Curie (PCC). A theoretical physicist and major figure in soft matter physics, Dr. Jacques Prost³, became its first director and embodied its founding ambition: to build tools, models, and new questions at the interface of living systems. But this interdisciplinarity still had to be built.

“The physicists came with their own culture, often rooted in soft matter physics, while the biologists brought their own questions, methods, and language. We had to create the conditions for these worlds to learn how to work together,” recalls Daniel Louvard.

To support this encounter, he established the Programmes incitatifs et coopératifs (PICs). These internal funding schemes supported projects at the interface between disciplines, as well as between researchers and clinicians, at a time when such approaches struggled to find their place within traditional funding mechanisms. Co-led by Jacques Prost and Dr. Michel Bornens  (1938–2022), the first PIC, Physics of the Living Cell, was one of the first successful concrete expressions of this original interface between physics and cell biology at Institut Curie.

“The PICs really helped physicists and biologists dare to embark on projects together, learning from one another around concrete questions,” recalls Dr. Patricia Bassereau⁵ , who was already among the scientists present at Institut Curie as the unit was taking shape.

For Daniel Louvard, this experience at Institut Curie helped pave the way, internationally, for a new way of bringing disciplines together, at a time when mechanobiology was beginning to emerge.
 

Shared Expertise

Since its earliest days, UMR168 has relied on a mechanical workshop capable of producing custom parts and experimental setups for the laboratory’s needs. 
This legacy continues today with La FabrIC, a fabrication and prototyping space that brings together mechanical engineering, additive manufacturing, and microfabrication, and now includes a FabLab activity. Presented during the day dedicated to the unit’s 30th anniversary, this development marks a new step toward making this expertise more visible, more accessible, and easier for Institut Curie teams to mobilize.

This culture of shared resources is part of a broader technological ecosystem. The unit also benefits from strong expertise in electron microscopy and cryo-electron microscopy through the CurieCoreTech Cell and Tissue Imaging platform (PICT), further strengthened by the installation in 2023 of the Glacios Cryo-TEM microscope, a state-of-the-art instrument worth more than €2 million.

Structuring Projects for the Growth of the Unit

Created in 2012 under the name CelTisPhyBio and later renamed Cell(n)Scale, this LabEx became a major driving force for UMR168. It helped fund interdisciplinary projects and train a new generation of researchers in the quantitative study of living systems, from molecules to tissues.

In 2016, the inauguration of the Institut Pierre-Gilles de Gennes marked a turning point for the unit. By giving it access to new spaces and state-of-the-art resources in microfluidics and microfabrication, it supported the unit’s growth, facilitated the arrival of new teams, and opened up new perspectives in quantitative biology and living systems engineering.

Today, this momentum continues through the Université PSL's Major Research Programs Engineering Life and IPGG, in which the unit is involved. The first aims to understand, control, and design living systems, from synthetic cells to artificial tissues. The second mobilizes microfluidic and nanofluidic approaches to address major challenges in health, life sciences, and environmental transitions.

Several teams are also involved in recent national programs, including the PEPR Cell-ID initiative, dedicated to cell identities and cell fate, and MED-OOC, which focuses on organs-on-chips and organoids-on-chips.

A Trajectory That Continues to Evolve

Over the years, the unit has renewed itself under directors with different scientific backgrounds. After Dr. Jacques Prost, who structured the interface between physics and biology, Prof. Jean-François Joanny⁶, a renowned theorist in soft matter physics, continued the laboratory’s development. Dr. Maxime Dahan succeeded him in 2013 and left a lasting mark on the unit through his work in cutting-edge imaging and his ambition to bring physics and clinical research closer together. His sudden death in 2018 was a major human and scientific loss. Prof. Axel Buguin⁷ then served as interim director, before Dr. Pascal Hersen⁸ took over in September 2019.

“What has made UMR168 strong throughout the years is its ability to reinvent itself without losing its identity: bringing disciplines together, inventing new tools, and opening up new questions about living systems. Today, the challenge is to pass on this pioneering spirit to a new generation of researchers,” says Pascal Hersen.

Today, thirty years after its creation, UMR168 brings together twelve research teams exploring living systems across multiple scales, from proteins and membranes to cells, tissues, embryos, and tumors. This diversity is underpinned by a close integration of theoretical, experimental, and technological approaches, drawing on expertise in membrane physics, advanced imaging, cryo-electron microscopy, microfluidics, synthetic biology, mechanobiology, organs-on-chips and tumors-on-chips, nanomedicine, and computational modeling.

 

[1] Director of Institut Curie’s Research Center, CNRS Research Director, and head of the Sex Chromosomes, Development and Disease team (CNRS UMR3244 / Université Paris Cité / Sorbonne Université).

[2] CNRS Emeritus Research Director in the Intracellular Transport: Engineering and Mechanisms team (CNRS UMR144 / Sorbonne Université), led by Dr. Franck Perez, member of the French Academy of Sciences, and Director of Institut Curie’s Research Center from 1993 to 2013.

[3] CNRS Emeritus Research Director in the Physical Approach of Biological Problems team (CNRS UMR168 / Sorbonne Université), led by Dr. Pierre Sens, member of the French Academy of Sciences, and Director General of ESPCI Paris from 2003 to 2013.

[4] Co-founder in 1995 of the Cell Biology and Cancer unit (CNRS UMR144 / Sorbonne Université) at Institut Curie.

[5] CNRS Research Director, head of the Membranes and Cellular Functions team (CNRS UMR168 / Sorbonne Université) at Institut Curie.

[6] Professor at Collège de France, academic researcher in the Physical Approach of Biological Problems team (CNRS UMR168 / Sorbonne Université), led by Dr. Pierre Sens, member of the French Academy of Sciences, and Director General of ESPCI Paris from 2014 to 2018.

[7] Professor at Sorbonne Université, CNRS Research Director, and co-leader of the Biology-inspired Physics at MesoScales team (CNRS UMR168 / Sorbonne Université) with Dr. Pascal Silberzan.

[8] CNRS Research Director and Director of the Physics of Cells and Cancer unit (CNRS UMR168 / Sorbonne Université).