Missions

We are looking for a highly motivated candidate to fill an ANR (French National Research Agency) funded research position aimed at applying our sequential RNA-FISH method to our study model.

Activities

The candidate will be in charge of :
- designing and amplifying the FISH probes libraries,
- growing bacterial colonies,
- performing RNA-FISH, and
- acquiring multiplexed imaging datasets.

Skills

The candidate will have expertise in molecular biology and/or microscopy.
The candidate is expected to express a strong interest in working at the interface between biology, bioinformatics, and physics.

Work Context

The Center for Structural Biology (CBS) carries out research at the forefront of structural biology and biophysics as a means to reveal the fundamental physical mechanisms underlying biological activity and its regulation. The CBS is located at the heart of a world-class research campus in Biology in the vibrant city of Montpellier on the French Riviera. It hosts research groups with expertise in many advanced microscopies, including multiplexed, high-throughput microscopy, single-molecule super-resolution (PALM/STORM), 3D structured illumination microscopy, fluorescence correlation spectroscopies, magnetic and optical tweezers, high-speed atomic force microscopy and cryo-electron microscopy.

Our interdisciplinary group is interested in understanding the mechanisms underlying DNA organization and transcription in multicellular organisms, including bacterial biofilms. The current project is related to a long-standing collaboration with the group of Tam Mignot at the LCB (CNRS, Marseille) and focuses on the study of the motility and predatory mechanisms of the soil bacterium Myxococcus xanthus. Because the transcriptional program of individual bacteria is highly heterogeneous during biofilm development, traditional sequencing-based technologies are ill-suited to decorticate the differentiation program of subpopulations of cells. To circumvent this limitation, we have recently developed a sequential version of RNA FISH to detect RNA genes in single cells in situ without disrupting the spatial organization of the bacterial colony.

Please visit our website for further details: http://nollmannlab.org/

Relevant Publications:
Rombouts et al, Nature Communications 2023, 14:5588 .
Espinola, Goetz, et al. Nature Genetics, 2021, 53, pages 477-486.
Guilhas, et al. Mol Cell, 2020 Jul 16;79(2):293-303.e4.
Cardozo Gizzi, et al., Mol Cell, 2019, 74, Issue 1, p1-222.
Faure, Fiche et al., Nature, 2016, 539(7630):530-535.
Marbouty, Le Gall, et al. Mol Cell, 2015, 59 (4): 588-602.

Constraints and risks

Interested applicants should deposit their CV with references

Initial contract duration : 1 year, renewable.