Research Associate (post-doc) in PET tracer development

Job Information

Organisation/Company: INSERM DR Grand Ouest
Research Field: Neurosciences
Pharmacological sciences
Researcher Profile: Recognised Researcher (R2)
Country: France
Application Deadline: 31 Mar 2024 - 23:59 (Europe/Paris)
Type of Contract: Temporary
Job Status: Full-time
Hours Per Week: 38.5
Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme?: Not funded by an EU programme
Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure?: No

Offer Description

The INSERM U1253 laboratory is recruiting a research associate (with 0 to 3 years post-doc
experience) to conduct a research project funded by the ANR (French Research National
Agency) aiming at developing PET tracers for α-synuclein. The protein α-synuclein
accumulates and aggregates in the brain of Parkinson disease patients, causing the death of
dopaminergic neurons in the striatonigral pathways. Being able to monitor the α-synuclein
load in PD patients would enable a finer diagnostic and stratification of patients to i) better
understand disease progression and the relation between α-synuclein load and symptoms
and ii) monitor the efficacy of new therapies. However, so far there is no PET radiotracer
with a high specificity for α-synuclein, and binding to other aggregates such as β-amyloid is
common. The aim of this project is to screen new molecules in vitro to establish their
pharmacological properties using binding experiments on both cell culture preparations and
brain sections and once a suitable candidate will have been identified, proceed with its in
vivo characterisation and validation by preclinical PET-CT in animal models. The ideal
candidate would have knowledge in pharmacology, neuroscience and neurodegenerative
diseases (ideally Parkinson Disease) and previous experience (PhD or post-doc) of i) cell
culture, ii) in vitro binding experiments and iii) in vivo imaging (preferentially, but not
compulsory, PET and tracer development). Depending on the profile of the candidate, the
lab will support competitive candidates to apply to French Fellowship opportunities.

MAIN ACTIVITIES

• Cell cultures.
• Tissue preparation & sectioning.
• Performing in vitro binding (competition, saturation) experiments on cell culture
preparations and brain (section and/or homogenates) with new ligands.
• Interpretation of in vitro data to select best compounds for radiolabelling.
• Performing PET-CT scans in small animals.
• Analysis of the PET images and data.

• Interpretation and preparation of the data for publication, preparation of manuscript.

ASSOCIATED ACTVITIES

• Animal handling.
• Preparation of animals for PET scans.
• In vitro experiments: immunohistochemistry, histology, Western blot.

Requirements

Research Field: Biological sciences
Education Level: PhD or equivalent

Skills/Qualifications

• Excellent understanding of pharmacology
• Previous experience in performing binding experiments.

Specific Requirements

• Experience in neuroimaging (preferably PET, but other modalities accepted)
• Holding an animal experimentation license and previous experience in animal
experimentation would be a plus.

Languages: ENGLISH
Level: Good

Additional Information

Selection process

Applicants must send a CV and a cover letter to: Dr Hervé Boutin (herve.boutin@inserm.fr) or Dr Sylvie Chalon
(sylvie.chalon@univ-tours.fr)
Contact for further information (name, telephone/mail): Dr Hervé Boutin (herve.boutin@inserm.fr) or Dr Sylvie
Chalon (sylvie.chalon@univ-tours.fr)

Additional comments

Hosting Unit
Code	U1253
Name	iBrain
Director	Dr Catherine BELZUNG
Composition	Equipe 4: Molecular and morpho-functional imaging

Website for additional job details: https://ibrain.univ-tours.fr/

Work Location(s)

Number of offers available: 1
Company/Institute: Inserm - U1253 iBrain
Country: France
City: TOURS
Postal Code: 37000
Street: 10 Bd Tonnellé
Geofield

Where to apply

E-mail: herve.boutin@inserm.fr