Description of Research Project

The ERC-funded project aims to investigate interactions of various metallophilic chemolithoautotrophic microorganisms with complex mineral materials. We examine laboratory and environmental microbial-mineral interactions at the micrometer and nanometer scale and characterise microbial fingerprints left on minerals of terrestrial and extraterrestrial origin (https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-021-00105-x#Ack1; https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2019.01492/full).

We further aim to investigate the ecological distribution of metallophilic microorganisms in diverse extreme environments through metagenomic approach and characterise previously uncultivated microorganisms in laboratory conditions by studying their physiology, biochemistry, and probing novel microbial interactions with terrestrial and extraterrestrial minerals. This approach aims to reveal novel microbial species capable of living on, interacting with and utilizing metals from extraterrestrial material at the edge of living limits. We are currently looking for a highly motivated postdoc to examine microbial genomes and transcriptomes from diverse extreme ecosystems and laboratory cultures. The candidates with strong background in microbiology, microbial isolation, bioinformatic skills coupled to next-generation-sequencing methods for assembling and characterizing microbial genomes and phylogeny will be given preference.  Knowledge of microbial genomes, general biochemistry and physiology of metal-transforming microorganisms is equally expected.

Description of CBM

The Center for Molecular Biophysics (CBM, http://cbm.cnrs-orleans.fr) is a research unit of the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), affiliated with the University of Orléans. At the Exobiology Group of the CBM in Orléans, PostDoc position is available in the field of microbiology, bioinformatics, bio(geo)chemistry, astrobiology, and the genomics-based study of microbial interactions with various minerals within the framework of a project funded by the ERC. The Exobiology Group at the CBM provides extensive supervision and expertise for cultivation and physiological characterisation of metallophilic microorganisms, biochemistry of extremophiles, molecular techniques, electron microscopy and analytical spectroscopy techniques, as well as participation in a continuously evolving scientific projects.