Who is Mireille Blanchard Desce?
Mireille Blanchard-Desce is a CNRS Research Director at the Institut des Sciences Moléculaires in Bordeaux, where she pioneers molecular photonics and nanobiotechnology. After earning her PhD under Nobel laureate Jean-Marie Lehn, she built a career at the crossroads of chemistry, optics, and biology.
Her team develops ultra-bright organic nanoparticles for advanced microscopy, offering eco-friendly alternatives to quantum dots and pushing the limits of deep tissue imaging.
Widely recognized for her work, she has received the CNRS Silver Medal, the Grand Prix Mergier-Bourdeix, and most recently the Achille-Le Bel Prize (2024). With more than 300 publications and patents, she stands as a leader in bridging molecular chemistry with biomedical applications.
The Innovators behind the glow
Performing single-particle tracking (SPT) experiments in biological environments poses multiple challenges related to the intrinsic complexity of the intracellular space or other physiological buffers, but also the lack of cytocompatible particles that are naturally and safely internalized within living cells.
Mireille Blanchard-Desce and Jonathan Daniel, from the NanoMultiPhot platform at the Institut des Sciences Moléculaires de Bordeaux, set out to overcome a key challenge:
➜ Developing a new type of nanoparticles combining sufficient brightness to extract reliable diffusion parameters, minimal risk of aggregation in complex environments and passive uptaking in living cells.
By mastering the precipitation of organic dyes into stable nanoparticles, they developed a library of nanoparticles called NanoTracers, which exceptional optical and physicochemical features make SPT more accessible to biologists.
Mireille Blanchard-Desce & Jonathan Daniel (Plateforme NanoMultiPhot, Institut des Sciences Moléculaires de Bordeaux, France)
From concept to cutting-Edge tracking
What sets NanoTracers apart is their elegant simplicity born from thoughtful design. Instead of relying on bulky beads or metal-based quantum dots, these 15 nm organic nanoparticles are intrinsically biocompatible and show great colloidal stability. This means:
- No surface modification is needed to prevent aggregation
- No modification is needed to reduce cytotoxicity
They are available in a variety of emissions ranging from red to near-IR and are suitable for two-photon microscopy. These organic nanoparticles can be used on live biological samples, including thick ones for deep imaging (e.g., brain slices).
With their small 15 nm diameter and a brightness 10x higher than quantum dots, they offer unmatched clarity for extracting rheological parameters from a variety of intra- and extra-cellular media.
NanoTracers in Practice
- Track the diffusion of single particles in biological media, intracellular space or thick tissues
- Map extracellular space dynamics, like fluid flow or nanoparticle distribution
- Study intracellular trafficking and transport pathways in live cells, with minimal perturbation
- Enable quantitative biophysical analysis thanks to stable, discreet signals, even in demanding imaging setups
Mireille Blanchad Desce's NanoTracers publications
NanoTracer - Rheo kit:
Paolo Pagano, Morgane Rosendale, Jonathan Daniel, Jean-Baptiste Verlhac, Mireille Blanchard-Desce. Ultrabright Red to NIR Emitting Fluorescent Organic Nanoparticles Made from Quadrupolar Dyes with Giant Two-Photon Absorption (2PA) in the NIR Region. Confinement Effect on Fluorescence and 2PA and Tuning of Surface Properties. Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 2021, 125 (46), pp.25695-25705. 10.1021/acs.jpcc.1c07831. hal-03457942
Rosendale M, Flores J, Paviolo C, Pagano P, Daniel J, Ferreira J, Verlhac JB, Groc L, Cognet L, Blanchard-Desce M. A Bottom-Up Approach to Red-Emitting Molecular-Based Nanoparticles with Natural Stealth Properties and their Use for Single-Particle Tracking Deep in Brain Tissue. Adv Mater. 2021 Jun;33(22):e2006644. doi: 10.1002/adma.202006644. Epub 2021 Apr 22. PMID: 33890332.
NanoTracer - Cell kit:
Jonathan Daniel, Antoine G Godin, Matthieu Palayret, Brahim Lounis, Laurent Cognet and Mireille Blanchard-Desce. Innovative molecular-based fluorescent nanoparticles for multicolor single particle tracking in cells. Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics, 2016, 49, pp.84002 - 84002. 10.1088/0022-3727/49/8/084002. hal-01390058
J. Daniel, A. G. Godin, G. Clermont, B. Lounis, L. Cognet, M. Blanchard-Desce, "NIR-emitting molecular-based nanoparticles as new two-photon absorbing nanotools for single particle tracking," Proc. SPIE 9523, International Conference on Nano-Bio Sensing, Imaging, and Spectroscopy 2015, 95230M (8 July 2015); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2189638