Nicolas Harmand
Physics of living matter
Laboratoire Jean Perrin — Sorbonne Université / CNRS, Paris
I use soft matter physics to understand living systems. My work is experimental: I design measurements that put physical models of tissues to the test (models I build with theoreticians, and sometimes on my own) to find where they hold, where they break, and which mechanism is missing.
Trained as an engineer at ESPCI Paris and holding a PhD in biophysics, I spent three and a half years in industrial R&D at Saint-Gobain, where I developed physical processes that led to three international patents. I returned to fundamental research in 2024 at the Laboratoire Jean Perrin, where I develop micrometre-scale sensors to measure mechanical stresses inside developing embryos.
- Phys. Rev. XAmong the eight papers of the year (2021)
- Journal coverThe European Physical Journal E, 2022
- 3 international patentsFiled at Saint-Gobain, 2023–2024
- 3 image awardsNikon, CNRS, French Physical Society
Research
How do cellular heterogeneity and tissue mechanics shape one another?
Force sensors in living tissues
Measuring the rheology of the extracellular matrix during development, using active ferrofluid droplets injected into the embryo.
Epithelial mechanics
How the curvature of a substrate dictates the three-dimensional shape of cell monolayers, and what surface tensions suffice to explain it.
Latest
- Lydia Kebbal has won an EDPIF doctoral fellowship to work on the mechanics of heterogeneous epithelial monolayers, co-supervised by Léa-Laetitia Pontani and myself. Congratulations to her!
- Invited to run an experimental workshop on force-sensing droplets at the 2nd France-BioImaging Mechanobiology Working Group meeting.
- New paper in EPJ E: design and optimization of in situ self-functionalizing stress sensors. ↗
- Awarded a 20 k€ interlaboratory grant from IBPS for 2026–2027.
Education
PhD in Biophysics
Université Paris Cité — Laboratoire Matière et Systèmes Complexes, Paris
Relevance and limits of surface and line tensions in accounting for the shapes of epithelial cells. Supervised by Sylvie Hénon.
Engineering degree, ESPCI Paris & MSc ICFP
ESPCI Paris - PSL / Sorbonne Université, Paris
Major in physics; MSc ICFP, Soft Matter and Biological Physics track.