Research ingineer in Microbiology (M/F)

Molecular interactions of Mycobacterium bovis and Mycobacterium avium ssp. paratuberculosis with environmental amoebae.
Environmental free-living amoebae (FLA) have been hypothesized as reservoir components and vectors of Mycobacterium bovis (Mbo) and/or M. avium ssp. paratuberculosis (Map) and/or other mycobacteria that interfere with the diagnosis of tuberculosis. They could have an important role in the persistence of bovine tuberculosis and paratuberculosis respectively. Indeed, it has been experimentally shown that some mycobacteria may persist or multiply within FLA in vitro, but very few studies have addressed the role of environmental FLA in allowing survival and shaping virulence of mycobacteria

The objectives of the project are 1) to study the permissiveness of environmental FLA isolates to Mbo and Map infection in vitro and within mesocosms and 2) to decipher gene expression of Map and Mbo, at the transcriptomic and proteomic level during infection.

The position is part of the AMITUB project, supported by the ANR agency. It will be conducted under the supervision of Yann Héchard and Ascel Samba within the EBI laboratory (UMR CNRS 7267) at the University of Poitiers, in collaboration with the ISP laboratory (INRAE Nouzilly), the LDAR24 laboratory (Coulounieix-Chamiers) and the LNR laboratory (ANSES, Maisons-Alfort). Our labs have a long-term experience in amoeba and Mycobacterium studies.