Missions

The Assistant Engineer will study the function of a protein involved in chromatin repression, mediated by Polycomb PRC2, of developmental genes in plants. The main objectives are to finely characterise a factor associated with PRC2, including (i) plant genetics approaches and (ii) molecular biochemistry approaches. To do this, the AI will be tasked with developing molecular and genetic approaches as well as tools for epigenomic/epigenetic and interactomic analyses.

Activités

The AI will develop their project under the direct supervision of C. Carles (PR UGA, head of the IIRIG-LPCV-ChromDev team) and J. Kadlec (INSERM researcher in the IRIG-IBS-EpiGen team). He/she will benefit from the collaborative environment between the two teams within the ANR ChromSwitch consortium. In particular, the person will work closely on a daily basis with the permanent research engineers in charge of plant molecular genetics (M. Le Masson) and biochemistry (A-E. Foucher). Activities may include: - Molecular characterisation of transgenic plant lines (phenotyping, gene expression - RT-qPCR - and chromatin marks -ChIP-qPCR-). - In vitro analysis of interactions between proteins and nucleosomes (DNA, histones): EMSA, cryoEM structure In addition, the AI will present their data in English at team meetings and participate in the analysis of scientific articles related to their research, discussing them with team members (e.g. journal clubs).

Compétences

The candidate must have the appropriate profile to develop molecular biology and plant genetics approaches for epigenomic/epigenetic and interactomic analyses. The candidate must: - have a thorough understanding of the fundamentals (theory and practice) of genetics/epigenetics and molecular biology. - Be familiar with methods for analysing and measuring gene expression and epigenetic marks, and their bioinformatic exploitation. - Be able to interpret and present results independently at team meetings and seminars. - Develop tools and methods and use them in a reliable and reproducible manner. - Be able to contribute to the preparation of scientific publications. - Be able to work independently in an interdisciplinary and international environment. - Be prepared to interact scientifically within a dynamic research group. - Comply with laboratory rules and procedures. - Be fluent in English.

Contexte de travail

The AI will be part of the ChromDev team (http://www.lpcv.fr/en/ChromDev) at the Laboratory of Cellular and Plant Physiology (UMR 5168 - CNRS -CEA - Univ. Grenoble Alpes - INRAE) and the EpiGen team at the Institute of Structural Biology (https://www.ibs.fr/fr/recherche/assemblage-dynamique-et-reactivite/groupe-epigenetique-et-voies-moleculaires-c-petosa/equipe-kadlec/) in Grenoble. These teams' projects aim to better understand the chromatin dynamics that regulate developmental transitions, using a multidisciplinary strategy that encompasses in vivo phenotypic analyses, omics studies (epigenomics, transcriptomics, interactomics) and in vitro characterisation of molecular interactions and 3D structures of protein complexes. This position will be based at the Polygone campus in Grenoble, a rich environment for biological research, close to several laboratories such as IBS, IRIG, ESRF and EMBL. The LPCV institute employs around 100 people and has state-of-the-art equipment in molecular biology, biochemistry, structural biology and imaging. It has plant culture facilities enabling all stages of molecular genetics to be carried out on Arabidopsis.

Contraintes et risques

The AI will work according to a predefined schedule in the two neighbouring teams mentioned above (ChromDev, LPCV and Epigezn, IBS). He/she will follow the agreed working hours as specified in the contract (full-time), during the regular opening hours of the corresponding centres.