M. Vinod Kumar Saranathan

CNRS Chaire de Professeur Junior (CPJ)

UMR CNRS 7261 - Institut de Recherche sur la Biologie de l'Insecte (IRBI)
UFR de Sciences et Techniques

Coordonnées

Batiment I, IRBI

Mail: vinod.saranathan@univ-tours.fr
Site internet: https://vinodal.weebly.com

Discipline(s) enseignée(s)

Biomimétisme (M2)
Statistiques appliquées à la biologie (L3)
Science de la transition écologique et sociétale (L3 CPES)

Thèmes de recherche

Mot clés : Evolutionary Photonics, Structural Colors, Photonic Crystals, Self-assembly, Phase Separation, Functional Morphology, Biomimetics and Bio-inspiration

Our lab specializes in the study of structural colouration in organisms (current focus on terrestrial arthropods) that are responsible for vivid hues such as many (ultra)violets, blues, greens. and even reds in both extant and extinct organisms. Such colours are ubiquitous in nature and form an important part of the phenotype of animals, as they are often used in inter- and intra-sexual communication and camouflage. Specifically, we are interested in what we have termed “Evolutionary Photonics” – an integrative understanding of the evolutionary origin, functional ecology, structure-function relationships and morphogenesis of self-assembled organismal photonic nanostructures – to inform the biomimetic, facile and sustainable synthesis of advanced functional materials at the hard to achieve mesoscopic (visible optical) length scales.

We are thus broadly focused on the integration of evolutionary biology, developmental biology, and soft matter physics to inform fundamental questions from animal signalling to the bio-inspired or biomimetic design of novel, eco-friendly, functional materials by mimicking the ‘green’ water-based intra-cellular self-assembly processes. Towards this end, we are keen on developing and applying an ‘-omics’ approach to unravel the precise developmental basis of animal structural colouration in non-model organisms. We are also very much interested in comparative, macro-evolutionary questions on the evolution of iridescent and non-iridescent structural colouration in nature, questions that are well-poised to be presently addressed given the recent phylo-genomics driven progress in systematics.

We have pioneered the use of synchrotron Small Angle X-ray Scattering (SAXS) as a precise, high-throughput tool for the structural characterisation of biophotonic nanostructures. We also routinely use electron microscopy (both scanning and transmission), focused ion-beam milling and are keen on applying a whole slew of state-of-the-art materials characterization techniques including X-ray nanotomography and ptychography, Raman spectroscopy, microspectrophotometry, fibre diffraction in tandem with theoretical optical modelling approaches for the structural and functional characterisation of biophotonic materials.

Structure and Function of Biophotonic Nanostructures:

We have been at the forefront of accurately (both structurally and optically) characterizing the diversity of photonic nanostructures in birds and terrestrial arthropods. By contrast to most studies on animal structural coloration that look at a handful of species at most, we seek to understand their function and evolution from a broad macro-evolutionary perspective. We utilize the latest techniques like USAXS that help us appreciate the often complex three-dimensional nature of these biophotonic nanostructures. Our approach in comparing "kindred forms" and in studying the forces that has given rise to them (inspired by D'arcy Thompson) has led us to the startling insight that these biophotonic nanostructures are self-assembled intracellularly and rival the morphologies seen in synthetic polymeric materials, including such elusive and esoteric phases like the single gyroid and plumber's nightmare.

Evolution and Development of Biophotonic Nanostructures:

Structural colours have evolved over millions of years of selection for a consistent optical function. Having unlocked the nanostructural secrets of avian and arthropod biophotonic nanostructures, we are interested now in understanding how organisms have evolved to facilely develop these nanostructures via intra-cellular self-assembly at the large optical length scales, both from a micro- and macro-evolutionary perspectives, informed also by the fossil record.

Biomimetics and Bioinspiration of Nature's Multi-functional Nanostructures:

Currentl

y, the fabrication of a designer, defect-free, large-area photonic crystals via synthetic amphiphile or lyotropic self-assembly is very challenging. Nature has pre-empted engineering and has in many instances arrived at optimal solutions to our current problems in sensing and communication, using (self-assembled) biophotonic nanostructures. We are very interested in harnessing this innate ability of cells to self-assemble to develop novel biomimetic and bioinspired routes for the design and synthesis of novel nanostructures for multi-functional applications from sola cells, fibre-optics to cosmetics and textiles.

Open-source Software (OSS): available on github

bbandAgmodel:

This repository contains the software implementation for Prakash et al. 2021 Cell Reports "Antennapedia regulates metallic silver wing scale development and cell shape in Bicyclus Anynana butterflies." This includes a set of code written in SCM Scheme, awk and shell (Bash) and using FreeSnell to theoretically model the broadband (silver/gold) reflectivity of a bilaminate butterfly wing scale scale with 3-layers (an air layer sandwiched between upper and lower laminae).

Activités / CV

Diplômes et études universitaires :

2011 : PhD, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale Univ., New Haven CT, USA
2007 : MS, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale Univ., New Haven CT, USA
2004 : BA cum laude, Physics with a minor in Philosophy, Ohio Weselyan Univ., Delaware OH, USA

Postes occupés :

Depuis 2024 : CNRS Chaire de Professeur Junior, IRBI (UMR 7261)
2022 – 2024 : Associate Professor, Krea Univ., India
2020 – 2021 : Senior Research Fellow (≡Research Assistant Professor), Yale-NUS College, Singapore
2015 – 2020 : Assistant Professor, Yale-NUS College, Singapore (jointly appointed at NUS Department of Biological Sciences)
2014 – 2015 : Research Fellow, Physics and Applied Physics, SPMS, Nanyang Technological Univ., Singapore
2011 – 2013 : Royal Society Newton Fellow, Edward Grey Institute, Department of Zoology, Univ. of Oxford, Oxford, UK

Publications scientifiques sélectionnées :

** doctorante encadrée ou en comités de suivi; *postdoc

A. Kompa, C.Finet*, V. Saranathan, and J.G.Fernandez. 2024. Large-scale artificial production of Coleoptera cuticle iridescence and its use in conformal biodegradable coatings. Advanced Engineering Materials. 26, 2301713. doi: 10.1002/adem.202301713
K. S. Seah**, and V. Saranathan. 2023. Hierarchical Morphogenesis of Swallowtail Butterfly Wing Scale Nanostructures. eLife. 12: 89082. doi: 10.7554/eLife.89082.3
C. Finet*, Q. Ruan, Y. Y. Bei, J. Y. E. Chan, V. Saranathan, J. K. W. Yang, and A. Monteiro. 2023. Multi-scale dissection of wing transparency in the clearwing butterfly Phanus vitreus. Journal of the Royal Society Interface. 20, 20230135. doi: 10.1098/rsif.2023.0135
H. K. Raut, Q. Ruan, C. Finet*, V. Saranathan, J. K. W. Yang, and J. G. Fernandez. 2022. The height of chitinous ridges alone produces the entire structural colour palette. Advanced Materials Interfaces. 9, 2201419. doi: 10.1002/admi.202201419
A. Prakash**, C. Finet*, T. D. Bannerjee, V. Saranathan, and A. Monteiro. 2022. Antennapedia regulates metallic silver wing scale development and cell shape in Bicyclus anynana butterflies. Cell Reports. 40: 111052. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2022.111052
V. Saranathan, S. Narayanan, A. Sandy, E. R. Dufresne, and R. O. Prum. 2021. Evolution of single gyroid photonic crystals in bird feathers. PNAS. 118 (23): e2101357118. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2101357118
Foley, S.**, V. Saranathan, and W. H. Piel. 2020. The Evolution of colouration and opsins in tarantulas. Proceedings of the Royal Society B. 287: 20201688. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2020.1688
McDonald, L. T., S. Narayanan, A. Sandy, V. Saranathan, and M. E, McNamara. 2020. Brilliant angle independent structural colours preserved in weevil scales from the Swiss Pleistocene. Biology Letters. 16(4): 20200063. doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2020.0063
Seago, A. E., R. Oberprieler and V. Saranathan. 2019. Evolution of insect iridescence: origins of three-dimensional photonic crystals in weevils (Coleoptera: Curculionoidea). Integrative and Comparative Biology. 59: 1664–1672 doi: 10.1093/icb/icz040
Wilts, B. D. and V. Saranathan. 2018. A Literal Elytral Rainbow: Tunable Structural Colors Using Single Diamond Biophotonic Crystals in Pachyrrhynchus congestus Weevils. Small. 14(46): 1802328. doi: 10.1002/smll.201802328
Saranathan, V., A. E. Seago, A. Sandy, S. Narayanan, S. G. J. Mochrie, E. R. Dufresne, H. Cao, C. O. Osuji, and R. O. Prum. 2015. Structural Diversity of Self-Assembled Arthropod Biophotonic Nanostructures Spans Amphiphilic Phase-Space. Nano Letters. 15(6): 3735–42 doi: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.5b00201
Saranathan, V., C. O. Osuji, S. G. J. Mochrie, H. Noh, S. Narayanan, A. Sandy, E. R. Dufresne, and R. O. Prum. 2010. Structure, Function and Self-Assembly of Single Network Gyroid (I4132) Photonic Crystals In Butterfly Wing Scales. PNAS. 107(26): 11676–11681 doi: 10.1073/pnas.0909616107

Informations complémentaires

Google Scholar Page
ORCID ID
Web of Science (formerly publons) Profile (Clarivate ResearcherID: I-4565-2019)
Scopus Author ID: 21733243200
Researchgate Profile