Permanent staff
Xavier Garric
Xavier Garric was born in Nice (France) in 1977. He first received his PharmD degree in 2001 before he obtained his PhD in 2004 from the University of Montpellier I, under the supervision of Doctors Michel Vert and Jean-Pierre Molès in the field of degradable polymeric scaffold in skin engineering. He joined the group of Doctor Michel Vert as an Assistant Professor at the University of Montpellier, in 2005. He was appointed Professor of Polymer Chemistry at the Faculty of Pharmacy in 2013 and became team leader in September 2018. His research interests are focused on biomedical applications of polymers and especially for the design of new drug delivery systems and degradable medical devices. Part of his recent research is related to the design of an anti-adhesion, self-expanding and degradable medical device for the prevention of intra-uterine adhesions. This work led to the creation of the Womed start-up in 2018 of which he is co-founder and scientific advisor. Another part of his research focuses on degradable elastomers for tissue engineering applications as the well as the development of new drug eluting system for implantable medical device. Xavier is co-author of over 62 papers and 8 patents. He is co-head of the master’s degree in health engineering, he is deputy director of the scientific chemistry department at the University of Montpellier
Benjamin Nottelet
Benjamin initially graduated as a chemical engineer from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie of Montpellier (ENSCM), France before completing an industrial PhD on degradable polymers from the University of Montpellier (UM) in 2005 in contract with RHODIA in the group of Prof. Vert. He then worked in the Macromolecular Engineering and Architectures group of ENSCM in the group of Prof. Boutevin before joining the Department of Pharmaceutics and Biopharmaceutics of Prof. Gurny at the University of Geneva (UNIGE) to develop scaffolds for tissue engineering and drug delivery systems. In 2008, he became Associate Professor in the Faculty of Pharmacy at UM and joined the Department of Polymers for Health and Biomaterials of IBMM of Prof. Coudane, where he was appointed Full Professor in 2018. His research activities focus on the synthesis and modification of degradable polymers for advanced biomedical applications and include hybrid biomaterials, bioactive surfaces, and multifunctional polymers.
Jean Coudane
Jean is an alumnus of the ENS Cachan, he has passed aggregation in Chemistry before moving to INSA of Rouen as assistant professor in organic chemistry in the Laboratory of Macromolecular Substances, managed by Professor Maréchal. in 1991 he moved at the Faculty of Pharmacy of Montpellier in the CRBA (Research Center on Artificial Biopolymers) team, managed par Dr Michel Vert. From 2007 to 2018 he managed the “Polymers for Health and Biomaterials” department of IBMM (Max Mousseron Institute on Biomolecules). His research skills are mainly dedicated to the chemical modifications of biodegradable and biocompatible (co)polymers, especially (co)polyesters, for applications in Health, such as implantable polymeric medical devices or polymeric drug vectors.
Hélène Van Den Berghe
Hélène graduated in Organic Chemistry at the Universtiy of Montpellier (France). She completed her PhD in 2007 under the supervision of Pr J. Coudane in the Artificial Biopolymers Department of IBMM in Montpellier, working on the synthesis of biodegradable polymers for tissue engineering and sustained drug release applications. She then joined the group of Pr Rachel Auzély in the CERMAV (Grenoble, France) as a post-doc to work on the chemical modifications of polysaccharides. Hélène moved to England in 2010 in the Dove group at the Warwick University before moving at the University of Lille (France) to work as a post-doctoral fellow with Pr Bernard Martel developing multi-drug stents based on polysaccharide layer-by-layer assemblies. In 2011, she became Associate Professor in the Faculty of Pharmacy of Montpellier in the PHBM Department of IBMM. Her research is dedicated to the synthesis and chemical modification of synthetic and natural biodegradable polymers for biomedical applications including : nano-systems for anti-cancer drug release, anti-adhesive polymeric membranes for orthopedic surgery, synthesis of amphiphilic copolymers for environnemental applications. She defended her HDR on september 2023.
Vincent Darcos
Vincent is a CNRS Research Engineer at the Institute of Biomolecules Max Mousseron (IBMM). After defending his PhD in the field of organic chemistry (2000, University of Bordeaux), he joined the group of Prof. Dave Haddleton at the University of Warwick in UK (Marie-Curie Fellowship, 2000-2002). Then, he moved for a one-year post-doctoral fellow at the University of Bordeaux (LCPO) in the group of Dr. Yves Gnanou (Rhodia funding). In 2004, he joined the IBMM and defended his HDR in 2017. His research interests focus in the field of macromolecular engineering in order to develop original polymeric biomaterials for health applications.

Coline Pinese
Coline has been working at the chemistry/biology interface since her CIFRE PhD obtained in 2014, in partnership with the startup Biom’up, which focused on the design of a degradable ligament prosthesis made of synthetic copolymers and collagen. She then joined the IBMM peptide team (2014-2015) to study the in vitro and in vivo bioactivity of surfaces (silicone, glass, titanium) functionalised by bioactive peptides (antibacterial, osteointegration, wound healing, etc.). In 2016, she joined Nayang University of Technology, Singapore to develop matrices for spinal cord regeneration. She finally joined the PHBM team in 2017 to work on the design of bioactive degradable polymers, before becoming Associate Professor in 2019. Her research focuses on the synthesis, modification and shaping of macromolecules for biomedical applications, in particular the design of nano or macrostructured hybrid or composite materials for tissue regeneration and medical devices.

Abdeslam El Ghzaoui
Abdeslam graduated in chemical physics at the Universtiy of Montpellier (France). After defending his PhD in the field chemical physics at the Universtiy of Montpellier (1997), he worked for the C.E.A (Commissariat à l’énergie atomique) in the field of radionuclides solubilisation in micellar and physical hydrogel systems. Then, he joined the C.R.P.P. (Centre de recherche Paul Pascal) (Bordeaux, France) as a post-doc to work on Dendrimers and their supramolecular nanostructures. In 2002, he became Associate Professor at the Faculty of Pharmacy at University of Montpellier and joined the Department of Artificial Biopolymers of IBMM of Prof. Michel Vert. His research activities focus on the rheology of nano and mesostructures biomaterials obtained from natural and synthetic biopolymers. He also works on interfaces in colloidal systems such as the drug solubilisation in polymer micelles and hydrogels.

Audrey Bethry
After a master degree in Health Biology, Health engineering obtained in Montpellier, she moved to Strasbourg and joined in 2009 a team working in cell signaling in urological cancers (INSERM U1113) as engineer. Then she became a member of Urolead, preclinical Contract Research Organization (CRO) created in 2010 offering patient tumorgraft-based services in urological cancers. After 4 years as project manager, she joined in 2014 the biopolymer department of the Institute of Biomolecules Max Mousseron (IBMM) as biological engineer. She is in charge of biological evaluation, in vitro and in vivo, of medical biomaterials developed by polymer chemists.

Cédric Paniagua
Cédric Paniagua graduated from a DUT in Chemistry obtained at the University of Montpellier in 2000. After several experiences in the private sector (2000-2003), he joined the Biopolymers Artificial Department at IBMM in 2004 as a CNRS assistant engineer chemist. He is in charge of the synthesis development and characterization of original polymeric biomaterials for health applications. Since 2016, he is technical manager of the polymer platform of the SynBio3 platform.

Stéphane Dejean
Stéphane Déjean obtained his Diploma of Higher Education in Chemistry in 2011 and specialized in polymers chemistry with a Bachelor’s Degree. In 2013, he joined the Biopolymers Artificial Department at IBMM as a CNRS chemist. He is currently working on the synthesis and the characterization of biodegradable polymers and also in the development of new 3D printable materials applied on medical devices.

Sylvie Hunger
Sylvie obtained his Diploma of Higher Education in Chemistry and, after several years in private field, she integrated the Biopolymers Artificial department in 1992 as a technician. She is currently in charge of technical facilities in size exclusion chromatography (SEC), analysis and maintenance. In SynBio3 platform she also contributes to the characterization and degradation study of polymers.

Michel Vert
Michel Vert, formally at INSA Rouen, founded the laboratory in 1991 and led it as director until he retired in 2007. He remains member of the department as Emeritus CNRS Research Director. His main fields of interest are: – optically active polymers, – multifunctional polyelectrolytes, -polymers of therapeutic interest, – macromolecular drugs and prodrugs, -degradable and bioresorbable polymers, – smart polymeric systems. He authored or co-authored more than 400 major scientific contributions (articles, book chapters, patents, etc…). He contributed to the creation of three companies, two as co-founder. Two stopped after many years of activity. One, MedinCell, is still alive. He is presently member of the IUPAC Sub-Committee for Polymer Terminology. He was awarded a CNRS Silver Medal, a “Jungfleish” Grand Prix of the French Academy of Sciences and a Grand Prix Georges Winter of the European Society for Biomaterials.

Carine Carlin
gestionnaire
Clinical staff & Quality
Renaud De Teyrac PU-PH
Vincent Letouzey PU-PH
Christian Pompée PAST
Emmanuel Robin PAST
Non-permanent staff

Claire Semedo da Moura

Mickael Guerreiro
Mickaël obtained a Master degree in Polymer Chemistry at Sorbonne University in 2021. Starting from the same year, he’s doing a PhD about film-forming and radionuclide chelating biomaterials based on original polymers. The PhD project is supervised jointly by PHBM team (Prof. Vincent Darcos) and ICGM team (Prof. Sophie Monge Darcos).

Anissa Benkhedim
Anissa obtained a Master degree in Polymer Chemistry at Grenoble University in 2022. Starting from the same year, she’s doing a PhD about biodegradable polymeric hydrogel/nanoparticles hybrids as dual-drug delivery system for cancer therapy. The PhD project is supervised jointly by PHBM team (Prof. Benjamin Nottelet and Dr. Hélène Van Den Berghe) and INSERM team (Dr. Magali Gary Bobo). She enjoys reading, hiking and traveling.

Camille Colin
Camille graduated from the École nationale supérieure de chimie de Montpellier (ENSCM) in 2024. He is currently working on his PhD in the synthesis and development of functionalized, amphiphilic, injectable copolymers for the prolonged subcutaneous delivery of therapeutic proteins. This doctoral project is supervised by Prof. Benjamin Nottelet and Dr. Vincent Darcos from the PHBM team

Laura Chamard
Laura gratuated from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Mulhouse in 2022. She is completing her PhD (CIFRE) on development and characterisation of innovative solutions for dental remineralisation since 2023.
The thesis project is supervised by Xavier Garric and Hélène Van Den Berghe from the PHBM team, Christophe Hirtz from the PPC team and in collaboration with Pierre Fabre (Toulouse, France).

Sarah Di Prospero
Sarah obtained her engineering degree from the engineering school Centrale Marseille in 2022, specializing in mechanical modeling of materials and structures. Additionally, she obtained a double degree in tissue and implant biotechnology from the University of Aix-Marseille. At the moment, she is developing a medical device for male urinary incontinence using 3D printing of a biodegradable polymer, polycaprolactone (PCL).
Sarah’s day job doesn’t stop her from enjoying photography, traveling the globe, and practicing yoga to stay in shape.

Gabriele Vecchio
Gabriele obtained a Master of Science degree in Materials Engineering and Nanotechnology at Polytechnic of Milan in 2020. Starting from 2021, he’s doing a PhD about porous nanocomposite scaffolds for the regeneration of mandible defects as a consequence of the osteoradionecrosis.
The PhD project is supervised jointly by IBMM Biopolymers team (Prof. Vincent Darcos) and CIRIMAT team (Prof. Jeremy Soulié).

Minh Thuong Khong
Graduated the diploma of pharmacy in Vietnam, Minh came to France to continue his study. Minh obtained a Master degree in pharmaceutical chemistry at Paris-Saclay University in 2017. Then, he moved to University of Strasbourg to complete his PhD in organic chemistry, in 2021, under the supervision of Dr. Valérie Berl and Prof. Jean-Pierre Lepoittevin. In March 2022, he joined the team of Dr. Vincent Darcos and Prof. Benjamin Nottelet to work as a research engineer on Biopoltrace project. He is working about the 13C-labelled polymers and amphiphilic cyclic polymers. He enjoys football, table tennis and hiking.

Lucie Fontaine
Lucie graduated from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Matériaux, d’Agroalimentaire et de Chimie (ENSMAC) in Bordeaux in 2024. She is completing her PhD within the PHBM team, under the supervision of Benjamin Nottelet and Coline Pinese, in collaboration with Skinegy, a company located in Réunion Island. Her research aims to advance the healing process of chronic wounds, focusing on the development of hybrid degradable dermal substitutes loaded with bioactive compounds derived from the biodiversity of Réunion Island. Alongside her academic pursuits, Lucie has a background in dance, enjoys cinema, and loves discussing sports.

Klaudia Kvakova
Klaudia obtained a Master’s degree in Chemistry for Medical applications at Brno University of Technology in 2019. Following this, in 2023, she completed her Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Pathobiochemistry at Charles University, Prague. Throughout her academic journey, she focused on nanoparticles (Synthetic Nanochemistry group at Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry, Prague; M.G. Finn’s group, Georgia Tech, Atlanta) and polymers (Contipro). Furthermore, she expanded her expertise in molecular biology (Molecular Basis of Inflammation, Institute of Human Genetics, Montpellier). In March 2024 she joined the team of Prof. Benjamin Nottelet as a Post-Doc to work on Polymeric Biomaterials for 3D printing. Klaudia enjoys skiing, biking, and hiking.