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 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 Artificial Biopolymers 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 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 “Artificial Biopolymers” 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 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 Artificial Biopolymers 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.

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.

Coline has been working at the chemistry/biology interface since her doctorate CIFRE obtained in 2014. Her objective was to design hybrid collagen/PLA based copolymer biomaterials for ligament regeneration. She then continued her work at the interface by studying bioactive surfaces functionalized by peptides (antibacterial, osteointegration, wound healing…). Then she became involved into spinal cord regeneration through an association mRNA or siRNA/ nanofibers at Nayang Technological University, Singapore. She finally joined the DBA team as an Associate Professor to develop polymer/peptide hybrid nanomaterials.

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.

Mahfoud is a CNRS Research Engineer with the Max Mousseron Institute for Biomolecules (IBMM) at the University of Montpellier. He obtained his PhD in Materials Chemistry at the University of Rouen in 1986. He joined the group of Artificial Biopolymers (CRBA) created and directed by Michel Vert in 1992. Being an organic Chemist and polymer scientist, his research focuses on functional and multifunctional polymers of therapeutic interest such as macromolecular prodrugs and artificial, gelatin-type hydrogels.

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 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 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.

She 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, 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.