ORIO Maylis

ORIO Maylis

Location
Service 341
Telephone
04 13 94 56 13
Status
Research Director
Team
BiosCiences

PhD supervisor : Jean-Marie Mouesca

PhD subject : Density Functional Theory (DFT) study of the electronic and magnetic properties of iron complexes. Application to Catalase and Iron-Sulfur Systems.

Career path

Since 2024    CNRS researcher director, Aix-Marseille University
2010-2024    CNRS researcher, Aix-Marseille University                                                                              

2013-2014     Habilitation, University of Lille 1
2010-2014     CNRS researcher, University of Lille 1
2009-2010    Postdoctoral position, University of Grenoble 1
2007-2009    Postdoctoral position, MPI - University of Bonn, Germany
2004-2007    PhD in Molecular, Structural and Physical Chemistry, CEA - University of Grenoble 1

Honour

  • Distinguished member SCF, 2025 promotion.

Teachings

  • Lectures and practicals in computational chemistry and EPR simulation (since 2008, summer schools 8h per year)
  • Undergraduate practicals in inorganic chemistry (since 2010, 32h per year)

Research themes

Within the BiosCiences team, my research focuses on the experimental and theoretical characterization of molecular catalysts for the activation of small molecules, with a particular interest in hydrogen production. My specificity is to use quantum chemical tools to: (i) better understand reaction mechanisms (ii) predict the catalytic performance of systems and (iii) develop new synthetic targets.
 

References: Chem. Eur. J., 2022 -  Chem. Comm., 2021.

 

1) Bio-inspired hydrogen production: molecular electrocatalysis, photocatalysis and supported catalysis

By combining non-innocent ligands and Earth-abundant transition metal ions, we have developed familes of bio-inspired complexes active in electrocatalytic proton reduction. We have shown that these complexes exhibit high electrocatalytic activity for the reduction of protons to hydrogen. However, the key elements for understanding, rationalizing and improving their reactivity remain unknown. A first line of research aims to predict the catalytic performance of our bio-inspired complexes to design more efficient molecular catalysts. A second axis aims to combine catalytic centers with a solid matrix, in order to make them stable electrodes for producing hydrogen by electrolysis in soft conditions. A final focus is the development of noble metal-free systems for photocatalytic hydrogen production. We combine organic photosensitizers with inorganic catalysts capable of producing dihydrogen to design robust coupling devices capable of capturing light to produce hydrogen.

Funding : ANR, ANRT, DGA, Région Sud, IEA, AMUTech 

Participants : Renaud Hardré, Bruno Faure, Marius Réglier 

Collaborations : Company Rener, Athanassios Coutsolelos (Univ. Crete), Kalliopi Ladomenou (Univ. International Hellenic)

Publications : Chem. Eur. J., 2018 - Chem. Sus. Chem., 2019 - Dalton Trans., 2020 - RSC Adv., 2021 - Chem. Phys. Chem., 2022 - ChemCatChem, 2024 - Dalton Trans. 2025.

2) Oxygen activation: Structure-function studies of copper monooxygenases

Lytic Polysaccharide Monooxygenases (LPMOs) are copper metalloenzymes that catalyze the oxidative cleavage of recalcitrant polysaccharides such as cellulose, hemicellulose and chitin. LPMOs hydroxylate a C-H bond on cellulose using a copper active site. Many questions remain as to the mode of action of the enzyme and the role of the particular coordination motif "histidine-brace". We develop structure-function relationships for these copper monooxygenases using a dual approach combining experimental data and theoretical calculations. We are developing a multidisciplinary approach combining biology, spectroscopy and quantum chemistry to interpret the structure and properties of these enzymes to better understand the copper centers and their reactivity.

Fundings : ANR, PHC Procope, PHC Procope +

Participants : A. Jalila Simaan, Alexandre Ciaccafava, Marius Réglier

Collaborations : Sylvain Bertaina (IM2NP, Aix Marseille Univ.), Giuseppe Sicoli (LASIRE, Lille Univ.), Dimitrios Pantazis (MPI Mülheim, Germany)

Publications : Chem. Phys. Chem., 2020 -  Magnetochemistry, 2022 - Inorg. Chem., 2022 - Inorg. Chem., 2024.

Collaborations and groups

Collaborations

  • France, Grenoble : Stéphane Torelli (LCBM)
  • France, Paris : Ally Aukauloo (ICMMO), Sébastien Blanchard (IPCM)
  • France, Lille : Giuseppe Sicoli (LASIRE)
  • France, Marseille : Sylvain Bertaina (IM2NP)
  • Germany : Dimitrios Pantazis (MPI Kofo Mülheim)
  • Grece : Athanassios Coutsolelos (Univ. Crete), Kalliopi Ladomenou (Univ. Hellénique Internationale)
  • Mexico : Ivan Castillo (UNAM)

 

Supervisions

  1. Jana Mehrez, PhD student  Région Sud 2022-2025, topic hydrogen, co-supervisor : R. Hardré
  2. Michael Papadakis, postdoc RENER 2023-2026, topic hydrogen
  3. Iris Wehrung, PhD student MRT 2023-2026, topic copper enzymes and models, co-supervisor : J. Simaan
  4. Léa Delmotte, project engineer RENER 2024-2026, topic hydrogen

Administrative responsabilities

  • Deputy director of the Infrastructure Themosia (Themosia, since 2024)
  • Operational mamanger on the IM2NP plateforme of the Infranalytics IR (Infranalytics, since 2023)
  • Board member of GDR Solar Fuels (Solar Fuels, since 2023)
  • Tresurer of the French EPR society (ARPE, since 2021)

Scientific outreach efforts

Files

Author publications