LNE has awarded its LNE Research Prizes to two researchers, Vincent Delatour and François Gaie-Levrel. Respectively experts in biomarkers and aerosol metrology, Vincent Delatour and François Gaie-Levrel have been rewarded for their joint work in cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention.
These diseases are the main cause of death in France, as in most industrialized countries. They are essentially caused by excess cholesterol, in particular LDL-cholesterol (also known as "bad cholesterol"). LDL (Low Density Lipoprotein) are spherical supramolecular assemblies ranging in size from 7 nm to 50 nm, which can be considered biological nanoparticles. Several clinical studies have shown that the smallest of these are associated with a higher risk of developing cardiovascular disease.
Vincent Delatour and François Gaie-Levrel worked together to co-supervise a thesis aimed at developing a method for counting lipoproteins using SMPS (Scanning Mobility Particle Sizer). Although usually used for nanoparticle analysis in the field of aerosol metrology, this method proved to be perfectly applicable to lipoprotein analysis due to its nanoparticulate nature. The project assessed the comparability of techniques for quantifying the number of LDL particles (LDL-P) and the number of non-HDL particles (non-HDL-P), which are better indicators of the risk of developing cardiovascular disease than LDL-C. In addition, it has been shown that smaller lipoproteins are associated with a higher risk of CVD. In addition to lipoprotein concentration, the method we have developed measures lipoprotein size, providing the most comprehensive data on CVD risk. This work has been the subject of several articles, including one published in Analytical Chemistry (Impact Factor 6.8) and another in Clinical Chemistry (Impact Factor 8.6), with the involvement of most of the opinion leaders in the field.
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