Léa-Laetitia PONTANI
Post-doctoral fellow
Nationality: French
Born: 5th January 1983
Center for soft Matter Research
Department of Physics
New York University
4, Washington Place room 608
New York, NY 10003 USA
phone: 212 998 7977
fax:
212 995 4168
E-mail: llp6@nyu.edu
EDUCATION:
2009
2006
2002-2006
2000-2002
PhD in Biophysics, "Université Pierre et Marie Curie" (Paris VI).
Masters Degree (second year) in Analytical physico-chemistry,
"Université Pierre et Marie Curie" (Paris VI).
Degree from "Ecole Supérieure de Physique et Chimie Industrielles
de la ville de Paris" (ESPCI).
Preparating course for the nation-wide competitive examinations
for the "Grandes Ecoles" (Physics section).
RESEARCH EXPERIENCE:
Since 2010
2006-2009
2005
2004
2003
Post-doctoral position, New York University, Center for Soft
Matter Research, in Jasna Brujic’s group Biophysics and Jamming.
PhD, Institut Curie (Physics and Chemistry of Life), directed by
Professor Cécile Sykes
"Reconstitution of an actin cortex inside a liposome".
6 weeks internship in the "Physicochimie des Polymères et des
Milieux Dispersés" laboratory at ESPCI: "Drying/rehumidifation of
colloidal suspensions".
6 weeks internship in the "Colloïdes et Matériaux Divisés"
laboratory at ESPCI:
"Influence of the size of magnetic beads used as probes for
diagnostics".
Six months internship in the R&D department, GlaxoSmithKline
(Stevenage, England):
"Active molecules synthesis through organic chemistry".
One month internship in the ESPCI Biology laboratory:
"θ tubulin localization in paramecium".
TEACHING:
2006-2009
2002-2006
Lecturer in chemistry in University Paris XII (Créteil).
Private teacher in physics, chemistry and mathematics.
PUBLICATIONS:
[1] L.-L. Pontani, J. van der Gucht, G. Salbreux, J. Heuvingh, J.-F. Joanny, C. Sykes,
“Reconstitution of an Actin Cortex inside a Liposome”, Biophys J. 2009 Jan;96(1):192-8
[2] E. Mabrouk , D. Cuvelier , L.-L. Pontani , B. Xu, D. Lévy , P. Keller , F. BrochardWyart , P. Nassoy , M.-H. Li, “Formation and material properties of giant liquid crystal
polymersomes”, Soft Matter, 2009 Mars; 5; 1870–1878
[3] W. Römer, L.-L. Pontani, B. Sorre, L. Berland, V. Chambon, C. Lamaze, P.
Bassereau, C. Sykes, K. Gaus and L. Johannes, “Actin dynamics drive membrane
reorganization and scission in clathrin-independant endocytosis”, Cell, 2010 Feb;
140(4):540-553.
[4] L.-L. Pontani*, M. Murrell*, K. Guevorkian, D. Cuvelier, P. Nassoy, C. Sykes,
“Spreading Dynamics of Biomimetic Actin Cortices”, Biophys J. 2011 Mar
16;100(6):1400-9
[5] I. Jorjadze, L.-L. Pontani, K. A. Newhall, and J. Brujić, “Attractive emulsion droplets
probe the phase diagram of jammed granular matter”, PNAS, 108, 11 (2011)
[6] L.-L. Pontani, I. Jorjadze, V. Viasnoff, and J. Brujić, “Modeling cell adhesion with
biomimetic emulsions”, PNAS 109, 25 (2012)
[7] K. A. Newhall, L.-L. Pontani, I. Jorjadze, S. Hilgenfeldt, and J. Brujić
“Size-topology relations in packings of grains, emulsions, foams and biological cells”
Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 268001 (2012);
[8] I. Jorjadze, L.-L. Pontani and J. Brujić, “Microscopic approach to the nonlinear
elasticity of compressed emulsions”, Accepted in Phys. Rev. Lett.
[9] C. Campillo, P. Sens, D. Köster, L.-L. Pontani, D. Lévy, P. Bassereau, P. Nassoy, C.
Sykes, “Unexpected membrane dynamics unveiled by membrane nanotube extrusion”,
Accepted in Biophys. J.
AWARDS:
2010
French Society of Physics Michelin Price for Young Researchers.