Abdel Aouacheria
Researcher / Principal Investigator
CNRS
Biography
Dr. Abdel Aouacheria is a senior scientist trained at the ENS de Lyon, internationally recognized for his expertise in mitochondrial biology and the regulation of cell survival and death. Now based at Montpellier University, he bridges fundamental biology, quantitative imaging, and application-oriented research. He has led multiple industrial projects in cosmetology (notably with SILAB and CLARIANT), developing high-content imaging tools to assess organelle health and cellular responses to complex exposures. Author of a reference book on programmed cell death, he currently coordinates the ANR MitoDanger project, focused on quantifying mitochondrial toxicity induced by chemical mixtures for exposome-aware safety assessment.
Conference
Day 1
Session 2: Exposome impact on Skin & Hair
QISS: Quantitative Imaging for Skin Studies
With advances in microscopy and the exponential growth of computing power, cellular imaging has entered the Big Data era. The generation, processing, analysis, visualization, and interpretation of high-content, multidimensional imaging data now represent a major bottleneck for the cosmetics sector. To address this challenge, our team has developed innovative technological solutions combining advanced in vitro models with custom software.
Our first research axis focuses on a miniaturized platform, MITOMATIQUE, enabling rapid, robust, and quantitative assessment of mitochondrial health. This approach generates “computational mitograms” from living cells cultured in 2D and imaged by confocal microscopy. Beyond the objective evaluation of bioactive ingredients, MITOMATIQUE allows the characterization of combinatorial effects of the cutaneous exposome through phenotypic profiling of cells exposed to realistic cocktails of environmental toxicants (e.g. atmospheric pollutants, plastic residues, phytosanitary compounds).
Our second research axis led to the development of NOXISCORE, an automated, animal-free assay designed to assess the potential toxicity of formulation mixtures under realistic conditions of use and stress. Based on human skin biopsies coupled with digital histometry, this technology produces “computational nucleograms” that quantify the toxicological impact of combined dermato-cosmetic products, such as sunscreens and insect repellents.