Dr. Aurore Van de Walle

University PSL, France

Abstract Title: Nanomagnetism in Human Cells: Emergence and use for Magnetic Bioprinting

Biography: Aurore Van de Walle, author of over 30 publications (h-index = 16), received her PhD in biomedical engineering from the University of Florida in 2015. She then joined the Matière et Systèmes Complexes (MSC) laboratory for a postdoctorate, before being recruited as permanent CNRS researcher in 2020. She moved to the Physics of Cells and Cancer (PCC) laboratory in 2023. Her work focuses on the use of magnetic nanoparticles for the spatial organization of cells, for anticancer applications, and on understanding the emergence of human biomagnetism.

Research Interest: The fascinating redox capacity of iron places it at the core of many essential biochemical processes. While the roles of non-magnetic iron in human physiology are well characterized, its magnetic form—iron oxides—has received surprisingly little attention, despite the known presence of natural magnetic crystals in human tissues, particularly in the brain. In this context, we demonstrated in vitro that human stem cells are capable of synthesizing magnetic nanoparticles, providing the first in vitro model for studying biogenic magnetism in human cells. This opens to the possibility of exploring the underlying mechanisms of intracellular magnetic biomineralization. Our current work investigates these processes through two complementary strategies: (i) quantifying the biotransformations of chemically synthesized magnetic nanoparticles in diverse cellular environments, and (ii) inducing the de novo biosynthesis of magnetic nanoparticles from intracellular iron pools. Beyond its fundamental interest, this biogenic nanomagnetism holds great promise for regenerative medicine. With the advent of nanotechnology, magnetic nanoparticles have emerged as powerful tools for magnetic bioprinting—allowing remote spatial control of magnetically labeled cells to build 3D tissue constructs. Traditionally, these nanoparticles are chemically synthesized and internalized by cells. However, our discovery that cells can produce their own magnetic nanoparticles could pave the way for fully biological, self-guided approaches to tissue engineering.