Tenure-Track Junior Professor Chairs : Two job offers to join the SAPS units

Junior Professor Chairs are primarily recruited among researchers who have shown throughout their careers their ability to produce world-class research, confirmed by high-quality publications, with experience in project coordination and leadership. After a probationary period of 3 years and following a tenure review, you will be awarded tenure at INRAE as a research director (DR2) further to approval of the tenure committee.

A research and teaching agreement will specify the path you will follow towards full-tenure and enable you to acquire the qualifications necessary to become a full-tenure Research Director in your field.

2023 campaign calendar
- Opening date for applications: March 14, 2023
- Deadline for applications: April 21, 2023
- Pre-selections: from May 9 to 26, 2023
- Final selections: from June 14 to 28, 2023
- Starting date for appointments: from September 2023

Mitochondria, early environment, and short and long-term development

Nature and purpose of the research project to be developed and related activities :
Profound epigenetic changes are at work during the embryonic phase, orchestrating the establishment of the first cell lineages. Any disruption of these mechanisms by environmental factors (i.e. heat stress, modification of food inputs) can affect the lineage with potential transmission over several generations through epigenetic marks in the gametes induced by these disruptions. The results obtained by BREED, amongst others, show the decisive role of mitochondria and oxidative stress as mediators of environmental effects. You will study the in vivo changes in the maternal environment in response to heat stress and changes in breeding systems, in particular in ruminants. You will use the in vitro embryo production workshop at BREED to reproduce these modifications and study how mitochondrial function and the epigenetic machinery are affected and condition the long-term adaptation of individuals. Placed in the team studying the embryo, you will work closely with an engineer expert in early embryonic energy metabolism and will collaborate with the entire unit to study later-onset phenotypes.

Nature and purpose of the teaching project :
You will invest in teaching at several levels at Paris-Saclay University. Your lessons will cover the role of mitochondria in cell metabolism but also reproduction physiology. Within the courses addressing the concept of the DOHaD, your expertise will supplement the lessons currently proposed dealing with epigenetic mechanisms, gametogenesis, and the embryo. Within the Faculty of Medicine, you will contribute to lessons on cell physiology and biology at Versailles Saint-Quentin University and may be involved in teaching your speciality in the Life Sciences and Health department at AgroParisTech. You will contribute to the Master's specialising in integrative biology and physiology in the M1 BIP Animal and the M2 Predictive & Integrative Animal Biology (PRIAM), and participate in the M2 Reproduction and Development (ReproDev) of the Master's in Biology Health. You will be attached to the Biosphera Graduate School (https://www.universite-paris-saclay.fr/graduate-schools/graduate-school-biosphera) and within this framework; you may also propose other transversal or international courses within EUGLOH (European University Alliance for Global Health).

More informations :

• Profile on jobs.inrae.fr
• Contact : Pascale Chavatte-Palmer, UMR BREED

Innovative approaches in biochemistry and biophysics to study the neuroinvasion of the prion

Nature and purpose of the research project to be developed and related activities :
The research conducted by the MAP2 team at the VIM focuses on the mechanisms of replication and evolution of the prion, a pathogen comprising aggregates of the misfolded prion protein (PrP). The general aim of the project, at the interface between synthetic biology, biochemistry, and physical chemistry, is to study and characterize the relationship that governs the dynamics of PrP aggregation and the process of dissemination/neuroinvasion of the prion from sub-aggregate to tissue scale. It will help determine (i) how the relations between the sub-aggregates define the components that control the replication system; (ii) how the convolution of the biochemical and biological properties of the aggregates govern the dissemination profile and lead to specific prion strain neuroinvasion; (iii) how the host tissue (neuronal connectome, trophic cells, immune response) contributes to these processes.
This knowledge could serve as a basis for therapeutic strategies by targeting the critical parameters of the host tissue and the key aggregates of the perpetuation. Moreover, the undertaking of this project will enable the establishment within the unit of synthetic biology approaches to predict complex biological behaviour.

Nature and purpose of the teaching project :
The teaching will be carried out at the University of Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ) within the "communication and cell signalling" and "sensory physiology" course units of the Biology and Health Master's. The teaching project will be structured around two themes: one will concern a set of lessons (tutorials and practicals) on cell communication and homeostasis. The person recruited will participate within the framework of the "communication and cell signalling" course unit; the second theme focuses more on neurology (as with the research project), and the teacher will participate in tutorials/practicals taught within the "Sensory Physiology" course unit. Furthermore, the MAP2 team has been participating for many years in various biochemistry, structural biology, and biological risk course units (Ecole Normale Supérieure (ENS), AgroParisTech, University Pierre and Marie Curie (UPMC), University Paris-sud, UVSQ, M2 Pasteur, M2, Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes (EPHE), University of Fresenius (Germany)). These lessons aim to present a new vision of the structural dynamics of the proteins with the example of neurodegenerative proteinopathies.

More information:

• Profile on jobs.inrae.fr
• Contacts : Davy Martin, Pierre Sibille, UMR VIM