Marie-Paule Pileni is a French physical chemist who was born in

Tananarive Antananarivo ( French: ''Tananarive'', ), also known by its colonial shorthand form Tana, is the capital and largest city of Madagascar. The administrative area of the city, known as Antananarivo-Renivohitra ("Antananarivo-Mother Hill" or "An ...

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

. She is an Emeritus Professor at

Sorbonne University Sorbonne University (french: Sorbonne Université; la Sorbonne: 'the Sorbonne') is a public research university located in Paris, France. The institution's legacy reaches back to 1257 when Sorbonne College was established by Robert de Sorbon ...

and a Senior Member, since 1999, and administrator (2004–2011) of the

Institut Universitaire de France The Institut Universitaire de France (IUF, Academic Institute of France), is a service of the French Ministry of Higher Education that distinguishes each year a small number of university professors for their research excellence, as evidenced by t ...

Scientific Achievements

Professor Pileni’s research has been highly interdisciplinary over her entire scientific career. Her accomplishments have conducted to several breakthroughs in

nanotechnology Nanotechnology, also shortened to nanotech, is the use of matter on an atomic, molecular, and supramolecular scale for industrial purposes. The earliest, widespread description of nanotechnology referred to the particular technological goal o ...

. She paved the way to find new physics, chemistry and energy release out of the various nanostructures she developed. Her discoveries over the past thirty years provide various long-term fundamental and technological advances in

biomedicine Biomedicine (also referred to as Western medicine, mainstream medicine or conventional medicine)

Solar energy Solar energy is radiant light and heat from the Sun that is harnessed using a range of technologies such as solar power to generate electricity, solar thermal energy (including solar water heating), and solar architecture. It is an essenti ...

or chip design. She pioneered the use of colloids as

nanoreactor Nanoreactors are a form of chemical reactor that are particularly in the disciplines of nanotechnology and nanobiotechnology. These special reactors are crucial in maintaining a working nanofoundry; which is essentially a foundry that manufacture ...

to control inorganic nanocrystals growth processes and to assemble atoms in order to produce nanocrystals with various size and shapes. She demonstrated that nanoreactors can be used to modify chemically macromolecules such as proteins and enzymes opening a new approach to

enzyme catalysis Enzyme catalysis is the increase in the rate of a process by a biological molecule, an "enzyme". Most enzymes are proteins, and most such processes are chemical reactions. Within the enzyme, generally catalysis occurs at a localized site, calle ...

. In addition, she showed that incompressible nanocrystals and coating agents, acting like mechanical springs holding together the

, replace atoms and atomic bonds respectively in atomic crystals. She highlighted that collective chemical and physical intrinsic properties emerge from such 3D superlattices called colloid crystals or supracrystals. Some of them are in prefect alignment with atomic crystals. Moreover, she discovered that the crystalline structure of nanocrystals plays a major role on the chemical and physical properties of both nanocrystals and their assemblies. Such suprastructures dispersed in aqueous solution operate as efficient universal "nanoheaters", a brand-new concept she introduced. Such control of thermal energy release is one of the major challenges in various research areas related to energy release. She succeeds to self-assemble nanocrystals in tumor cells. Furthermore, such suprastructures target different compartments of the tumor microenvironment and trigger local photothermal damages that are inaccessible for isolated nanocrystals and not predicted by global temperature measurements. She has always been sensitive to

Women in science The presence of women in science spans the earliest times of the history of science wherein they have made significant contributions. Historians with an interest in gender and science have researched the scientific endeavors and accomplishments ...

careers. She trained more than a hundred scientists from all over the world (USA, Asia, Europe), half being women. From 2005 to 2007, she was Vice-President of the Women in Science Committee reporting to the French Minister of Research.

Education and career

She is the daughter of Christophe Pileni, Administrator in Chief of the

École nationale de la France d'Outre-Mer The Colonial School (french: École coloniale, also known colloquially as ) was a French public higher education institution or grande école, created in Paris in 1889 to provide training for public servants and administrators of the French coloni ...

, and of Marie-Pasquine Micheletti, President of the

French Red Cross The French Red Cross (french: Croix-Rouge française), or the CRF, is the national Red Cross Society in France founded in 1864 and originally known as the ''Société française de secours aux blessés militaires'' (SSBM). Recognized as a public u ...

. She studied, from 1961 to 1966, at the

Maison d'éducation de la Légion d'honneur The maisons d'éducation de la Légion d'honneur were the French secondary schools set up by Napoleon and originally meant for the education of girls whose father, grandfather or great-grandfather had been awarded the Légion d'honneur. Access is s ...

(school for children of

Légion d’Honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon B ...

members), then at the

Université Pierre et Marie Curie Pierre and Marie Curie University (french: link=no, Université Pierre-et-Marie-Curie, UPMC), also known as Paris 6, was a public research university in Paris, France, from 1971 to 2017. The university was located on the Jussieu Campus in the La ...

(1967–1969) and at the Université Paris-Sud 11 (1970–1972). There she obtained a honors degree in physical chemistry (1968), a Ph.D (1969) and a D.Sc. (thèse du doctorat d’Etat) (1977). She became a demonstrator (1969–1974), assistant lecturer (1974–1983), associate professor (1983–1990), full professor (1990–1997), and finally distinguished professor (since 1997). She was director, between 1996 and 2000, of the Structure and Reactivity of Interfaces Laboratory (SRI), a

Centre national de la recherche scientifique The French National Centre for Scientific Research (french: link=no, Centre national de la recherche scientifique, CNRS) is the French state research organisation and is the largest fundamental science Basic research, also called pure research o ...

(CNRS) joint unit. Since 2004, she has been a professor at the

Georgia Institute of Technology The Georgia Institute of Technology, commonly referred to as Georgia Tech or, in the state of Georgia, as Tech or The Institute, is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1885, it is part of ...

at Atlanta. In 2000, she created the Laboratoire des Matériaux Mésoscopiques et Nanométriques (LM2N) (Mesoscopic and Nanometric Materials Laboratory). Along with her research work, she became administrator (2004–2010) of the

IUF (as stated above). Moreover, she was Auditor (1987–88) of the Institut des Hautes Etudes de Défense Nationale, Auditor (1989) of the Institut des Hautes Etudes de Défense Européenne (European Defense Advanced Studies Institute) and Auditor (1990–91) of the Institut des Hautes Etudes de Sécurité Intérieure (Internal Security Advanced Studies Institute) (IHESI now INHESJ).

Scientific honors and awards

* 2000: Langmuir Prize of the

American Chemical Society The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a scientific society based in the United States that supports scientific inquiry in the field of chemistry. Founded in 1876 at New York University, the ACS currently has more than 155,000 members at all d ...

. * 2001: French citation laureate,

Institute for Scientific Information The Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) was an academic publishing service, founded by Eugene Garfield in Philadelphia in 1956. ISI offered scientometric and bibliographic database services. Its specialty was citation indexing and analysis, ...

. Award for most cited French scientist between 1981 and 1998. * 2001: Lecture Award of

Chemical Society of Japan The (CSJ) is a learned society and professional association founded in 1878 in order to advance research in chemistry. The mission of the CSJ is to promote chemistry for science and industry in collaboration with other domestic and global societ ...

, Division of Colloids and Surface Science. * 2002: Doctorate honoris causa of the

Chalmers University of Technology Chalmers University of Technology ( sv, Chalmers tekniska högskola, often shortened to Chalmers) is a Swedish university located in Gothenburg that conducts research and education in technology and natural sciences at a high international level ...

. * 2003: Gay-Lussac Humboldt Prize, Germany. * Since 2003: Member of the European Academy of Sciences. * 2004:

Descartes-Huygens Prize The Descartes-Huygens Prize is an yearly scientific prize created in 1995 by the French and the Dutch governments, and attributed to two scientists of international level, a French one chosen by the Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschapp ...

of the

Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences ( nl, Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, abbreviated: KNAW) is an organization dedicated to the advancement of science and literature in the Netherlands. The academy is housed ...

. * Since 2004: Member of the

Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences The Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences or ''Kungliga Ingenjörsvetenskapsakademien'' (IVA), founded on 24 October 1919 by King Gustaf V, is one of the royal academies in Sweden. The academy is an independent organisation, which promo ...

. * 2005: Blaise Pascal Medal of the European Academy of Science. * 2006: Lecture for Marie Curie 100 years anniversary. * 2006: Emilia Valori Prize of the

French Academy of Sciences The French Academy of Sciences (French: ''Académie des sciences'') is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV of France, Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French Scientific me ...

. * Since 2009: Fellow of the

Royal Society of Chemistry The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) is a learned society (professional association) in the United Kingdom with the goal of "advancing the chemistry, chemical sciences". It was formed in 1980 from the amalgamation of the Chemical Society, the Ro ...

in the United Kingdom. * Since 2010: Member of the

Academia Europaea The Academia Europaea is a pan-European Academy of Humanities, Letters, Law, and Sciences. The Academia was founded in 1988 as a functioning Europe-wide Academy that encompasses all fields of scholarly inquiry. It acts as co-ordinator of Europea ...

. * 2011: Member of AcademiaNet. * 2011: Research Grants from the

European Research Council The European Research Council (ERC) is a public body for funding of scientific and technological research conducted within the European Union (EU). Established by the European Commission in 2007, the ERC is composed of an independent Scientific ...

. * 2011: Catalán-Sabatier Lectureship award from the

Spanish Royal Society of Chemistry The Spanish Royal Society of Chemistry (RSEQ) is a Spanish scientific society dedicated to the development and dissemination of chemistry, in its aspect of pure science and in its applications. It originated in 1980 after the split of the Spanish ...

* 2012: Foreign member o
The Royal Society of Arts and Sciences in Gothenburg
* 2014: Journal Colloid Interface Science, JCIS, Life Achievement Award. * 2015: Honorary Holmberg Lecture

* 2016: Pierre Süe award, from the

French Chemical Society French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with France ...

* 2017: Franco-American Lectureship prize from the

and

* 2021: Marie-Paule Pileni Festschrift- The Journal of Physical Chemistry

Other honors

* 2012-2014: Member of the council scientific of Defense. * 2013: Commandeur dans l’

Ordre National du Mérite The Ordre national du Mérite (; en, National Order of Merit) is a French order of merit with membership awarded by the President of the French Republic, founded on 3 December 1963 by President Charles de Gaulle. The reason for the order's esta ...

. * 2017: Commandeur dans l' Ordre National de la Légion d’Honneur.

Major publications

* Reverse micelles as hosts for proteins and small molecules; P.P. Luisi, M. Giomini, M.P. Pileni, B. Robinson; ''Biochem. Biophys. Acta.'' 947, 209–216, (1988). * Reverse micelles : a microreactors; M.P. Pileni; ''J. Phys.Chem.'' 97, 6961-6974 (1993). * Nanosized Particles Made in Colloidal Assemblies; M.P. Pileni; ''Langmuir'' 13, 3266-3276 (1997). * Nanocrystals self assemblies: fabrication and collective properties; M.P. Pileni; ''J. Phys. Chem.'' 105, 3358-3372 (2001). * Mesostructured Fluids in oil rich regions: Structural and templating approaches; M.P. Pileni; ''Langmuir'' 17, 7476-7487 (2001). * Role of soft colloidal templates in the control of size and shape of inorganic nanocrystals; M.P. Pileni; ''Nature Materials'' 2, 145-150 (2003). * Control of the size and shape of inorganic nanocrystals at various scales from nano to macrodomains; M.P. Pileni; ''J. Phys. Chem. C'' 111, 9019-9038 (2007). * Self-assembly of inorganic nanocrystals: Fabrication and collective intrinsic properties; M.P. Pileni; ''Acc. of Chem. Res.'' 40, 685-693 (2007). * Supracrystals of inorganic nanocrystals: An open challenge for new physical properties; M.P. Pileni; ''Acc. Chem. Res.'' 41, 1799-1809 (2008). * How to produce 2D self-organizations of inorganic nanocrystals and how do they affect the chemical and physical properties; M.P. Pileni; ''Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys.'' 12, 11821–11835, (2010). * Analogy Between Atoms in a Nanocrystal and Nanocrystals in a Supracrystal: Is It Real or Just a Highly Probable Speculation?; N. Goubet, M. P. Pileni; ''J. Phys. Chem. Lett.'' 2, 1024–1031, (2011). * Supra and Nano crystallinity : Specific properties related to crystal growth mechanisms and nanocrystallinity; M.P.Pileni, ''Acc. Chem. Res.'' 45, 1965-1972 (2012). * Crystallinity Segregation upon Selective Self- Assembling of Gold Colloidal Single Nanocrystals; H.Portales, N. Goubet, S.Sirotki, E. Duval, A. Mermet, P. Albouy, and M.P. Pileni ''Nano Lett.'' 12, 5292−5298, (2012). * Unexpected electronic properties of micrometer-thick supracrystals of Au nanocrystals; P. Yang, I. Arfaoui, T. Cren, N. Goubet and M.P. Pileni, ''Nano Lett.'' 12, 2051–2055, (2012). * Simultaneous Growths of Gold Colloidal Crystals; N. Goubet, H. Portalès, C. Yan, I.Arfaoui1, P.A. Albouy, A. Mermet and M.P.Pileni ''J.Am..Chem.Soc.,'' 134, 3714-3719 (2012). * Coherent Longitudinal Acoustic Phonons in Three-Dimensional Supracrystals of Cobalt Nanocrystals; I. Lisiecki, D. Polli, C. Yan, G. Soavi, E. Duval, G. Cerullo and M.P. Pileni ''Nano Lett.'' 13,, 4914-4919 (2013). * Modulating the Physical Properties of Isolated and Self-Assembled Nanocrystals by Change in Their Nanocrystallinity; N. Goubet, C.Yan, D. Polli, H.Portalès, I.Arfaoui, G. Cerullo and M. P. Pileni ''Nano Lett.'' 13, 504−508 (2013). * Spontaneous formation of high-index planes in Au single domain nanocrystal superlattices; N. Goubet, J.Yang, P.A.Albouy and M.P.Pileni ''Nano Lett.'' 14, 6632-6638 (2014). * Negative Supracrystals Inducing an FCC-BCC Transition in a Gold Nanocrystal Superlattice; N. Goubet and M-P. Pileni "Nano Res''. 7, 171-179 (2014). * Control of the oxygen and cobalt atoms diffusion through Co nanoparticles differing by their crystalline structure and size Z. Yang, N. Yang, J. Yang, J. Bergström and M.P. Pileni "Adv.Funct.Mater". 25, 891-897 (2015). * Beyond Entropy: Magnetic Forces Induce Formation of Quasicrystalline Structure in Binary Nanocrystal Superlattice; Z. Yang, J. Wei, P. Bonville, M.P. Pileni" J.Am. Chem Soc" 137, 4487−4493 (2015). * Nano-supracrystallinity; M.P.Pileni "EPL" 109 58001 (2015). * Engineering the magnetic dipolar interactions in three-dimensional binary supracrystals via mesoscale alloying; Z. Yang, J. Wei, P. Bonville, M.P. Pileni" Adv. Funct.Mater" 25 4908- (2015). * Ligand Exchange Governs the Crystal Structures in Binary Nanocrystal Superlattices; J. Wei, N. Schaeffer and M. P Pileni" J. Am. Chem. Soc" 137 14773-14784 (2015). * Hierarchical mechanical behavior of cobalt supracrystals related to nanocrystallinity; M.Gauvin, N. Yang, Z. Yang, I.Arfaoui and M.P.Pileni" Nanoresearch" 8 3480-3487 (2015). * Supracrystalline Colloidal Eggs: Epitaxial Growth and Freestanding Three-Dimensional Supracrystals in Nanoscaled Colloidosome; Z.Yang, T. Altantzis, D. Zanaga, S. Bals, G. Van Tendeloo, M.P Pileni" J.Amer. Chem.Soc" 138 3493–3500 (2016). * Dispersion of Hydrophobic Co Supracrystal in Aqueous Solution; N. Yang, Z. Yang, M. Held, P. Bonville, P.A. Albouy, R. Lévy, M.PPileni" ACS Nano" 10 2277–2286 (2016). * 3D superlattices of uniform metal nanocrystals differing by their sizes called binary supracrystals; J. Wei, Z. Yang, and M. P Pileni" EPL" 119 38005, (2017). * Water-Dispersed Hydrophobic Au Nanocrystal Assemblies with a Plasmon Fingerprint; N. Yang, C.Deeb, J.L Pelouard, N. Felidj and M.P. Pileni" ACS Nano" 11 7797−7806, (2017). * Impact of the metallic crystalline structure on the properties of nanocrystals and their mesoscopic assemblies; M.P.Pileni" Acc. Chem. Res" 50 1946–1955 (2017). *Light–heat conversion dynamics in highly diversified water-dispersed hydrophobic nanocrystal assemblies, A.Mazzanti, Z. Yang, M. G. Silva, N. Yang, G. Rizza, P.E. Coulon, C. Manzonif, A. M. de Paula, G. Cerullo, G. Della Valle and M.P. Pileni Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 116, 8161-8166 (2019) *Self-Assemblies of Nanocrystals in Tumor Cells: Controlling the Intracellular Fate, Manipulation, and Photothermal Effects,J. Phys. Chem. C 2021, 125, 37, 20143–20156 *Self-assemblies of Fe3O4 nanocrystals: towards nanoscale precision of photothermal effects in the tumor microenvironment. A. Nicolas-Boluda, Z.Yang, T.Guilbert, L. Fouassier, F. Carn, F. Gazeau, M. P. Pileni Adv. Funct. Mater., 2021, 31, 2006824 (1-17) *Intracellular Fate of Hydrophobic Nanocrystal Self-Assemblies in Tumor Cells. A. Nicolas-Boluda, Z. Yang, I. Dobryden, F. Carn, N. Winckelmans, Ch. Péchoux, P. Bonville, S. Bals, P. M. Claesson, F. Gazeau, and M. P Pileni Adv. Funct. Mater., 2020, 30, 2004274 (1-15)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pileni, Marie-Paule Year of birth missing (living people) Living people French physical chemists Officers of the Ordre national du Mérite