General information
Reference : UMR7325-VALSEV-079
Nombre de Postes : 1
Workplace : MARSEILLE 09
Date of publication : Wednesday, January 18, 2023
Type of Contract : FTC Scientist
Contract Period : 24 months
Expected date of employment : 1 April 2023
Proportion of work : Full time
Remuneration : between 2889 and 4082 euros gross per month
Desired level of education : PhD
Experience required : Indifferent
Missions
In mammals, the precursor cells of red blood cells (RBCs), erythroblasts, loose their nuclei during their maturation into RBCs. The objective of the project is to elucidate the role of the mechanical constraints on the extrusion and detachment of the nucleus from the erythroblast when it exits the bone marrow to reach the bloodstream.
Activities
The postdoctoral fellow will design and fabricate a novel microfluidic device mimicking the bone marrow environment, based on a device developed in CINaM and still unique so far. He/she will optimize the erythroblast handling in the microfluidic setup, the setup geometry and flow conditions for observation of enucleation events. Once the experimental procedure is established, he/she will study how normal erythroblasts expel and release their nuclei. He/she will train US biology collaborators to the microfluidic experiment who will then similarly study deficient erythroblasts with altered mechanosensitive response. Together, they will compare the behaviors of normal vs deficient cells. The postdoctoral fellow will develop image analysis routines to automatize measurement of cell and nucleus shape, and localization of various cell components involved in enucleation. He/she will confront the experimental results to numerical simulations developed by a computer scientist collaborator predicting internal/external forces and cell/nuclei deformation.
Skills
The candidate will preferentially hold a PhD in the experimental physics/biophysics field, with experience in microscopy and/or microfluidics. Expertise in microfabrication techniques is a plus. The candidate is expected to show a strong motivation for working on an interdisciplinary project.
Work Context
The postdoc will be employed by CNRS, France's largest and most recognized research institution. The host laboratory, CINaM (https://www.cinam.univ-mrs.fr/cinam/), is a joint lab of CNRS and Aix Marseille Université, and is located in the Luminy Campus, at the entrance of the Parc National des Calanques. The lab hosts a micro/nanofabrication facility supported by 2 engineers. Mouse erythroblasts will be purchased from an animal lab facilty in Marseille, the postdoc will be trained to handle the cells by the US collaborators and will benefit from the expertise of a collaborator in Marseille. He/she will be supervised by Emmanuèle Helfer, who is a PI in the Physics for Living Systems (PIV) Department from CINaM lab. E. Helfer and colleagues from the Dpt belong to the Turing Centre for Living Systems (https://centuri-livingsystems.org/) and have collaborations with biophysicists, computer scientists, and biologists on various interdisciplinary projects. This international collaborative project involves a biology group specialized in hematopoiesis (Northwestern University, Chicago, USA) and a computer science group (University of Illinois at Chicago, USA). The postdoc fellow will visit the collaborators at least twice during the project duration.
Constraints and risks
Cell maintenance
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