From precious stone to luminescent nanoparticle to treat cancer

WORKSHOP-EXHIBITION from 8 years old

Aurélie BESSIERE, CNRS Researcher at the Charles Gerhardt Institute Montpellier and member of COSA “COnnexion Science et Art” Montpellier, Franklin BAULT, Visual Artist, Rowan SCHOKKAERT, PhD Student at the University of Montpellier and the Charles Gerhardt Institute Montpellier, participate in the Researchers’ Night on September 26, 2025, at the Lycée Joffre in Montpellier

When defects make crystals shine: from precious stones to luminescent nanoparticles to treat cancer. What, at the atomic level, makes precious stones so fascinating? Their beauty comes both from the perfectly ordered arrangement of their atoms and the presence of a small number of "defects" in this lattice. These irregularities, far from being annoying imperfections, give the crystal its unique color and can even make it glow through fluorescence or phosphorescence. Today, chemists know how to reproduce and control these phenomena in the laboratory to create all sorts of materials: crystals for lasers, glow-in-the-dark paints, but also—and this is a booming field—nanoparticles capable of emitting light inside the human body. The latter are already used in research to target and destroy cancerous tumors, paving the way for innovative new therapies.