General information
Reference : UMR7275-MASMAN-005
Workplace : VALBONNE
Date of publication : Friday, May 13, 2022
Type of Contract : FTC Scientist
Contract Period : 12 months
Expected date of employment : 1 September 2022
Proportion of work : Full time
Remuneration : Between 2690 and 3993 euros gross per month according to experience
Desired level of education : PhD
Experience required : 1 to 4 years
Missions
Post-doctoral researcher in charge of developing and conducting experimental protocols for the Pathfinder Neurosense project funded by the European Innovation Council (EIC): the overall objective is to develop prototype artificial intelligence-assisted medical devices to anticipate epileptic seizures that may cause death and to trigger automatic administration of emergency drugs to prevent SUDEP, i.e. the sudden death of an epileptic person in the absence of other abnormal conditions.
It is hypothesized that SUDEP may be caused by brainstem dysfunctions, but it is currently impossible to predict or prevent it. SUDEP incidence is particularly high in Dravet syndrome (DS), a severe, drug-resistant epileptic and developmental encephalopathy caused by mutations in the Nav1.1/SCN1A sodium channel. The postdoc will use transgenic mouse models of DS and other epileptic mouse models, and in vivo microdialysis, electrophysiology and optogenetics to validate the hypothesis that cortisol is involved in the pathological mechanism of SUDEP and can be used as a biomarker to predict and prevent it.
Activities
- Stereotactic surgery for implantation of electrodes, microdialysis probes and fibers for optogenetics.
--Chronic electrophysiological recordings (ECoG, LFP) in mice and signal analysis.
- Chronic microdialysis and in vivo optogenetics in mice.
- Induction of epileptic seizures (hyperthermia and flurothyl).
- Pharmacological treatments.
- Formatting of results and statistical analysis.
- Follow-up of the literature and improvement/adaptation of techniques and analyses according to the research projects.
- Writing of scientific articles.
Skills
- Ph.D. in neurobiology, neuroscience, biophysics, physiology or related disciplines.
- Experience in conducting animal experiments, especially microdialysis techniques and/or intracerebral electrophysiological recordings (ECoG, LFP), and/or in vivo optogenetics.
- Experience with stereotactic surgery in rodents.
- Ability to develop, plan and execute complex experiments, with good autonomy in project management.
- Ability to work in a team environment.
- Good level of oral and written English.
Application procedure:
- Cover letter (max 2 pages) addressing the essential criteria listed above and indicating 2 references.
- Detailed CV (no space restriction) with a list of published peer-reviewed articles
Work Context
The Institute of Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology (IPMC) is a joint research unit (UMR 7275) of the CNRS and the Université Côte d'Azur (220 people, 8000 m2 of buildings). Its 20 world-class research teams benefit from a high-level technological environment in mouse phenotyping, electrophysiology, molecular and cellular biology, imaging, cytometry, biomolecule analysis, functional genomics and integrative biology.
Massimo Mantegazza's team has a recognized expertise in the development and the in vivo, ex vivo and in vitro study of genetic models of epilepsy:
Mantegazza M., Cestèle S and Catterall W.A. (2021) Physiological Reviews 101(4):1633-1689. https://doi.org/10.1152/physrev.00025.2020
Mantegazza M. and Broccoli V. (2019) Epilepsia 60(S3):S25-S38. https://doi.org/10.1111/epi.14700
Constraints and risks
Standard risks associated with the use of chemical and biological products
Additional Information
Funded by the EIC Horizon Europe
https://www.cnrs.fr/fr/cnrsinfo/eic-pathfinder-le-cnrs-en-tete
https://www.cote-azur.cnrs.fr/fr/cnrsinfo/eic-pathfinder-open-2021-3-laureats-issus-de-laboratoires-azureens-crhea-inphyni-ipmc
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