Missions

Conventional chemotherapy fails to cure the majority of the most deadly cancers. Most of the drugs used clinically have little selectivity against tumor cells, and also attack healthy tissue. This non-selective destruction causes severe side-effects and often leads to premature discontinuation of treatment. Thus, the development of new anticancer agents designed to selectively destroy tumors without affecting healthy organs represents a major interest in the fight against cancer. In this context, at CNRS's IC2MP (UMR 7285), we are developing vectors designed to release both an active agent and a volatile tracer in response to their activation in the tumor microenvironment. This theranostic approach will enable us to selectively treat solid tumors and precisely determine patient response to personalized therapy. The researcher recruited will be in charge of the biological evaluation (in vitro and in vivo) of new theranostic agents. He/she will develop relevant mouse models in order to 1) measure the therapeutic efficacy of vectorized chemotherapy and 2) estimate the antitumor effect through the detection of volatile tracers in biological fluids (breath, blood).

Activities

-The researcher will: - develop in vitro (cell cultures, biopsies, plasma) and in vivo (mice) models to assess the efficacy of new theranostic agents against solid cancers.
- study the biological processes triggered by vectorized therapies.
- develop analytical protocols for detecting volatile tracers in biological fluids (GC-HRMS).
- supervise trainees (Master 1 and 2).
- write activity reports.

Skills

The candidate must have a PhD in biology, with knowledge of cell biology and molecular biology. He/she should also be qualified as an experimenter and designer for in vivo experiments. The latter should have a good knowledge of the chemistry/biology interface, with skills in the analysis of organic compounds (GS-MS, HPLC-MS). In addition, the following skills are desirable:
- Writing skills, ability to publish and promote research work
- Ability to work as part of a team
- Good command of English is required.

Work Context

This research project will be carried out at the Institut de Chimie des Milieux et Matériaux de Poitiers (IC2MP). The IC2MP is an interdisciplinary research laboratory hosted by the CNRS and the University of Poitiers (https://ic2mp.labo.univ-poitiers.fr/). The candidate will work as part of the IC2MP OrgaSynth team, under the supervision of the project's scientific manager(s).

Constraints and risks

Constraints associated with experiments with live animals Possible short missions