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ESPCI Paris
ESPCI Paris is a major institution of higher education (a French "Grande École d’ingénieurs"), an internationally renowned research center (6 Nobel Prizes), and a fertile ground of innovation for industry (3 start-ups created/year). ESPCI is a highly multidisciplinary environment with teaching and research in physics, chemistry and biology.
Laboratory of Biochemistry ESPCI (LBC)
The activities of the Laboratory of Biochemistry at ESPCI Paris, directed by Prof. Andrew GRIFFITHS, are based around droplet-based microfluidics, a powerful new ultrahigh-throughput system in which reaction volumes can be miniaturized by up to a million-fold compared to conventional assays in microtitre plates. This opens up exciting prospects for the development of extremely innovative systems with many applications in the Life Sciences.
We are looking for 4 postdoctorants for 4 different projects that are described below.
Project 1 : Single cell analyses of anti-tumor immune responses to lung cancer and search for predictive biomarkers
Keywords : RNA-seq, NGS, molecular biology, microfluidics
Project 2 : Droplet-based microfluidics for directed enzyme evolution
Keywords : Droplet-based microfluidics, enzyme evolution
Project 3 : Single-cell spatial mapping of biological sample
Keywords : Molecular biology, next generation sequencing, droplet-based microfluidics
Project 4 : Chemical fitness
Keywords : Origin of life, chemical reaction network, analytical chemistry, droplet-based microfluidics
Project 1 : Single cell analyses of anti-tumor immune responses to lung cancer and search for predictive biomarkers
Keywords : RNA-seq, NGS, molecular biology, microfluidics
Almost 80% of bronchopulmonary cancers are non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and diagnosis is most often made at an advanced or metastatic stage. Checkpoint inhibitors are routinely used for treatment of metastatic NSCLC, and are being evaluated in the perioperative situation for early stage NSCLC. The overall response rates to checkpoint inhibitors are around 30% of patients. Given these low response rates, there is a clear clinical need for selecting patients according to their likelihood to respond.
The present project is based on recent technological developments in the field of microfluidics which allow single-cell transcriptomic and phenotypic analyses on several thousand cells for each sample. The project involves three main groups : i) Specialist in single cell microfluidics (Prof. A Griffiths), ii) Cancer immunologist (Prof. S Amigorena), and iii) Lung clinician (Nicolas Girard).
Post-doctorant mission : The role of the post-doctorant will be to adapt droplet-based microfluidics protocol for high throughput and whole transcriptome analyses coupled to single-cell phenotypic analysis based on next-generation sequencing (NGS) and flow-cytometry.
Requirements : We are seeking a highly motivated Post-Doc, ideally with a strong experience in RNA-seq and NGS. The Post-Doc should be interested in learning how to use microfluidic systems. Flexibility, autonomy, the ability to work in a highly multidisciplinary team and good interpersonal skills are essential.
Project 2 : Droplet-based microfluidics for directed enzyme evolution
Keywords : Droplet-based microfluidics, enzyme evolution
The scientific research will be realized in the context of a private-public project. ESPCI brings to this project its expertise in directed evolution of enzyme. For this project, ESPCI is in charge to develop a high throughput screening method to study catalytic activities of libraries of enzyme.
Post-doctorant mission : The post-doctorant will team-up with a post-doctorant in molecular biology. He will be in charge to develop the droplet-based microfluidic system for screening enzyme libraries.
Requirements : We are seeking a highly motivated Post-Doc, ideally with a strong experience in droplet-based microfluidics. Flexibility, autonomy, the ability to work in a highly multidisciplinary team and good interpersonal skills are essential.
Project 3 : Single-cell spatial mapping of biological sample
Keywords : Molecular biology, next generation sequencing, droplet-based microfluidics
Characterizing the tumour/microenvironment interaction is a crucial concern in oncology. One of the challenge is to be able to localize molecular signals of single cells from a tissue with its spatial localization in the tissue. Our work is based on the development of an innovative technics allowing the localization of single cell signals coming from sequencing on the surface of a biological tissue sample. The project is highly innovative and ambitious.
Post-doctorant mission : The post-doctorant will join an interdisciplinary team to work on the molecular biology aspect of the spatial mapping technic.
Requirements : We are seeking an experienced Post-Doc with strong skills in molecular biology and interested in learning droplet-based microfluidics. The candidate should be highly motivated to work on an innovative project with strict deadline. The candidate should be flexible, able to work in multidisciplinary team and have good interpersonal skills
Project 4 : Chemical fitness
Keywords : Origin of life, chemical reaction network, analytical chemistry, droplet-based microfluidics
In this project, we want to investigate the emerging properties of chemical reaction networks compartmentalized in microfluidic droplets. We use the formose reaction, which autocatalytically forms sugars of different sizes from formaldehyde, as model of proto-metabolism. We observed that droplets containing efficient chemistry grow at the expense of others, in the same way that organisms would compete for food. This phenomenon spontaneously gives rise to the equivalent of biological fitness in a synthetic system. For the long run, we envision to demonstrate a rudimentary molecular evolution in a purely physico-chemistry system.
Post-doctorant mission : The post-doctorant will be in charge of : (i) characterization of chemical kinetics of formose reaction, using analytical chemistry techniques ; (ii) building microfluidic devices and measuring the growth competition between droplets in these devices, using time-lapse microscopy and image analysis.
Requirements : We are seeking a highly motivated Post-Doc, ideally with a strong experience in droplet-based microfluidics and chemistry. Flexibility, autonomy, the ability to work in a highly multidisciplinary team and good interpersonal skills are essential.
Job package
We offer an exciting and collaborative work environment at the forefront of biology, chemistry and physics research with top academic and industrial partners. We offer a competitive salary for a one-year contract (renewable).
Address your applications (CV + cover letter) and specify the project for which you apply :
Prof. Andrew GRIFFITHS
ESPCI Paris - Laboratory of Biochemistry
10 Rue Vauquelin
75005 Paris
job-lbc@espci.fr