Description of the thesis topic

This theses project will use fluorescence microscopy to image the distribution of transcription factors inside the nucleus of Drosophila melanogaster embryos and use quantitative image analysis to reveal possible mechanisms guiding their reorganization over the course of embryo development.

Activities:
- Image the spatial distributions of developmental transcription factors, epigenetic marks, and chromatin accessibility using quantitative high- and super-resolution fluorescence microscopy.
- Develop and optimize the imaging protocols for the targets listed above.
- Develop an analysis pipeline to characterize, on a single-nucleus basis, sub-nuclear distributions of transcription factors and epigenetic marks using autocorrelation, topological data analysis, and other quantitative spatial metrics.
- Identify if the architecture of the chromatin (e.g., the patterns of epigenetic marks and accessibility) or other structural features inside the nucleus are guiding the distribution of transcription factors.
- Track how this spatial organization changes over the course of embryo development and identify if different cellular lineages have distinct trajectories in how their nuclear topology develops.

Competencies:
The person recruited must be highly motivated and autonomous, in addition to being familiar with Drosophila melanogaster, its genetics and embryo development. The person must also have prior experience with confocal microscopy and computational image analysis. The person recruited must be highly proficient with English to communicate professionally and to assimilate the knowledge contained in state-of-the-art scientific literature (C1 level).

Work Context

The Centre de Recherche en Biologie cellulaire de Montpellier (CRBM) UMR 5237 is located in the CNRS campus, which also hosts the IGMM, the IRIM, and the Pôle Chimie Balard. The CRBM consists of 160 researchers, post-docs, doctoral students, and technical staff, covering a wide range of topics in cellular biology. It has access to the MRI, a state-of-the-art imaging platform, and to the Drosophila platform at the IGH, the largest fly center in France. The recruited person will work in the TSAI Group (Nuclear organization of transcription in embryos) to complete the research for this thesis project.

Constraints and risks

No particular security conditions.