Description du sujet de thèse

Depression is a mental illness that affects approximately 300 million people worldwide and one person in five in France. It is characterized in part by great sadness, feelings of despair (depressed mood), loss of motivation and anhedonia. In the worst case, depression can lead to suicide. Current available antidepressants, which mainly target monoaminergic systems, have many deficiencies: ~30% of patients remain refractory to conventional antidepressant treatments, their action is delayed and they induce many side effects. Improving symptomatic treatments for depression is therefore an important challenge in order to offer more effective, faster-acting and safer treatments for patients. Recent clinical studies suggest that hallucinogens (such as LSD or psilocybin) have a long-lasting and faster antidepressant action than classical antidepressants depression making them a promising therapeutic approach. However, the precise mechanisms of the antidepressant action of these hallucinogenic molecules remain largely unknown. The aim of this study will be to characterize the molecular and cellular mechanisms by which serotonergic psychedelics induce their rapid and long-lasting antidepressant effect in mouse models of depression. This project will combine electrophysiological (synaptic transmission and plasticity, intrinsic properties) and behavioural analyses to biochemical and phosphoproteomic approaches as well as immunohistochemistry.

Contexte de travail

The institute of functional genomics is a Joint Research Unit (UMR) affiliated with CNRS, INSERM, and the University of Montpellier, with a multidisciplinary focus. Its research programs cover the fields of neuroscience, physiology, and cancer biology.
IGF hosts approximately 350 people — including researchers, teacher-researchers, engineers, technicians, postdoctoral fellows, and students — grouped within 23 research teams, 8 technological platforms, and several research support services.
The PhD candidate will work under the supervision of Carine Bécamel within the Neuroproteomics and Signalling of Brain disorders team, led by Philippe Marin. At the time of appointment, the team will include 9 researchers, 3 technical and administrative staff (ITA), 2 postdoctoral fellows, and 7 PhD students.

Contraintes et risques

Possible weekend on-call duties depending on experimental needs.