Cathérine Picart facts for kids
Cathérine Cécile Picart (born 24 October 1971) is a French biophysicist and bioengineer. She leads the Department of Health at CEA Grenoble, which is part of the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission. She is also a professor at the Institut polytechnique de Grenoble PHELMA and a researcher at the Laboratoire des Matériaux et du Génie Physique (LMGP). Her work focuses on how materials interact with living things.
About Cathérine Picart's Journey
Cathérine Picart studied physics of materials and biomedical engineering. She earned her first degree in 1994 from the Institut polytechnique de Grenoble. She then got a master's degree and a doctorate in biomedical engineering from the Université Joseph Fourier. After finishing her studies, she worked as a researcher at the University of Pennsylvania in 1998.
From 1998 to 2004, she taught at the Université Louis-Pasteur in Strasbourg. Here, she focused on materials science and biomaterials. Biomaterials are special materials used in the body, like for implants. In 1998, she became a professor at the Université de Montpellier. She started a team that studied cells and how they interact with materials. This field is called cellular biophysics and biomimicry. Biomimicry is about creating new things by copying nature. While in Montpellier, she won an important award called the Prix Jean-Marc Lhoste.
In 2008, Cathérine Picart moved back to Grenoble. She became a professor at PHELMA and led a team at LMGP. This team explored how materials and living matter connect. In 2016, she was a visiting professor at Boston University. Her research mainly looks at designing biomaterials. These materials help control how cells grow and how tissue forms in vivo (meaning inside a living body). She also creates models to understand these interactions better.
Her research has received funding from the European Research Council four times. This funding helped her work on projects like:
- Biomimetic films and membranes (2009) – these are thin layers that act like natural ones.
- Coatings for orthopaedic and dental implants (2012) – these coatings help bones grow onto implants.
- Bio-active coatings (2015) – these are coatings that can interact with the body.
- Regenerating large bone defects (2017) – this project aims to help repair big bone injuries.
Cathérine Picart has also been an expert for many national and international groups. She has written over a hundred scientific papers and holds two patents. Patents protect new inventions.
Awards and Recognitions
Cathérine Picart has received several important awards for her work:
- Le Prix Jeune Chercheur de la Société de Biomécanique (Young Researcher Prize from the Society of Biomechanics).
- 2012 Chevalier d'Ordre national du Mérite (Knight of the National Order of Merit). This is a high honor in France.
- 2016 Médaille d'argent du CNRS (CNRS Silver Medal). This award comes from the French National Centre for Scientific Research.
- 2019 Prix Émilia Valori pour l'application des sciences (Émilia Valori prize for applying science). This award is from the Académie des sciences (French Academy of Sciences).
