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Postdoc position – Mechano-chemical control of jellyfish regeneration

Posted by , on 23 August 2022

Job type: Postdoc

Location: Banyuls-sur-Mer, France

Closing Date: 23 September 2022

We are seeking a highly motivated postdoctoral researcher to join our new group “Cnidarian Regeneration, Development and Evolution” (www.cnidevolab.com), located in the Oceanographic Observatory of Banyuls-sur-Mer (Sorbonne University/CNRS), in the South of France. Position is fully funded for 2-years, by an ATIP-Avenir starting grant.

The project investigates how chemical and mechanical cues are integrated by a wounded jellyfish, in order to cope with random injuries in nature, and to switch on the appropriate repair program. We are asking a long-standing question of regenerative biology, uniquely accessible with our laboratory jellyfish, Clytia hemisphaerica: how is the choice between a healing-only and healing-and-regeneration program regulated? Building an integrative model for regeneration requires to consider both cellular and organismal levels, in an organism whose anatomical features and regenerative mode allow disentangling the different types of cues (mechanical and chemical signaling) and where technological developments enable in vivo measurements and functional approaches, at adult stages.

The small and transparent jellyfish Clytia, where both mechanical and chemical cues were shown to participate in the recovery of forms (Sinigaglia et al., 2020, eLife), represents a unique and unexplored opportunity for addressing this knowledge gap. Exploiting the unique anatomy and the repair process of Clytia, this project will characterize the molecular and biophysical aspects of regeneration vs repair programmes, and generate a stress-based simulation model. The model will explore the parameter space and direct further experimentation, allowing to start deciphering how different cues are integrated at the cellular and tissue level. This project will be performed in close collaboration with Dr. Carl Modes, a biophysicist expert in tissue mechanics, who leads the “Network Complexity and Systems Biophysics” group at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics (Dresden, Germany).

Given the interdisciplinary nature of the overall project, we are looking for a candidate with either a background in biophysics or in biology but with a strong interest in biophysics. The details of the postdoctoral project will be defined according to the skills and the interests of the candidate. Ideally, the postdoctoral researcher will specifically quantify and address the tissue polarity dynamics and the mechanical properties of the repairing jellyfish, generating the data that will be used to develop the stress-based model, in close partnership with Dr. Carl Modes team (the postdoctoral researcher is expected to visit Dresden). The candidate should preferably have experience with some of the following approaches: microscopy, live imaging, transgenesis, molecular biology and functional approaches, non-conventional laboratory organisms.

Starting date is flexible, however the contract should commence before the end of 2022.

Salary will depend on the experience level of the candidate, according to to the regulations of CNRS.

 

Contact: chi.sinigaglia@gmail.com

How to: Please, apply here https://emploi.cnrs.fr/Offres/CDD/UMR7232-DIDPEU-019/Default.aspx?lang=EN

Salary: CNRS postdoc salary

Start date: 1 December 2022

Closing Date: 23 September 2022

Scientific fields: Cell fate control and differentiation, Morphogenesis, Patterning, Regeneration, Quantitative biology and modelling, Stem cells

Model systems: Other invertebrate

Duration: Fixed term

Minimum qualifications: PhD

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