Doctoral fellowship in cellular and molecular biology, genome-wide study of negative-regulatory elements M/F

IRCAN was created on January 1, 2012 at the heart of the Pasteur University-Hospital Center in Nice. The research carried out at IRCAN aims to understand the biological mechanisms linking aging and cancer, with particular attention paid to the role played by epigenetics, the cellular microenvironment and responses to stress.
The Institute for Research on Cancer and Aging (IRCAN) is a joint research unit under the supervision of the University of Nice Sophia-Antipolis, CNRS and Inserm.
IRCAN is made up of more than 210 researchers, technical engineers, post-doctoral students and students. It is made up of 15 research teams and 5 technological platforms.

The precise regulation of gene expression underpins cellular differentiation and the ability to respond to external stimuli, and it is essential for development of multicellular organisms. Whereas gene activation by the combined activities of promoters and distal enhancers is extensively studied, gene repression by cis-acting negative-regulatory elements is much less well understood. Gene silencing is believed to play a critical role in establishing cell-type-specific gene expression patterns, yet the mechanisms of action are almost completely unknown.
The lab has a long-standing interest and expertise in gene regulation, and has recently developed cutting-edge techniques to identify and characterize genomic sequences with silencing activity.
The researcher will investigate how cis-acting negative-regulatory elements function at the molecular level, and to determine the cellular and pathological consequences when these processes are disrupted.
This will provide crucial insight into the processes controlling physiological gene expression patterns, and into how misregulation of silencing can contribute to diseases and cancer.
This project will utilize sophisticated genome-wide functional screening methods, together with other advanced techniques including ChIP-seq, gene targeting, and retroviral gene transfer, and will include training in bioinformatic analysis of high-throughput sequencing data. The lab is a multinational team with a working language of English.