Host Organisation

The Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 welcomes Marie Sklodowska Curie Postdoctoral Fellowships applications! With 62 laboratories and more than 7000 publications per year, and leading French university in terms of the number of patents filed in collaboration with industry, Lyon 1 contributes to scientific and innovation progress in numerous fields: health, mathematics, IT, physics, chemistry, earth and space sciences, life sciences, etc. Creator of emerging knowledge and new technologies, the University is consolidating its research excellence on a global and international level by developing inter- and multidisciplinary approaches targeting the major challenges facing today society.

Host research lab/team

The Centre International de Recherche en Infectiologie (CIRI) is a joint unit of Université Lyon 1, Inserm, CNRS and ENS de Lyon, in partnership with VetAgro Sup, Institut Pasteur and Hospices Civils de Lyon. The CIRI brings together scientific and medical research communities from complementary disciplinary backgrounds, grouped into 3 specialties that work together with the primary objective of understanding the interactions between microbes and their hosts, to better combat infectious diseases. The CIRI-VirPath team works on different aspects of respiratory viruses’ biology, from the deciphering of the mechanisms leading to influenza virus emergence and pathogenesis, to the analysis of viral interplays with host cell during respiratory virus infection, through fundamental, clinical, and translational approaches.

Hosting Offer 

The CIRI-VirPath team offers to host a MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship candidate (typically a post-doc of less than 8 years research experience since PhD defence), applying to the next MSCA-2024 - PF call for proposals (deadline 11th September 2024), interested to work on the following research topic: Respiratory coinfections / Study of interactions between respiratory pathogens. The fellowship could last for 12 to 36 months, depending on the type of Postdoctoral Fellowship.

Supervision

The successful Marie-Curie Post-doctoral fellow will be supervised by Dr Olivier Terrier.

Olivier Terrier is Researcher - Assistant Professor (CR1 CNRS, HDR) in the VirPath Team (which is part of the Centre International de Recherche en Infectiologie (CIRI, INSERM U1111, CNRS UMR5308, ENS Lyon & Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1), based in Lyon, France. Since 2018, Dr Olivier Terrier is leading projects dedicated to the study of coinfections between respiratory viruses, at the fundamental and translational levels, through the implementation of biologically relevant models and the combination of microbiology, cell biology and omics approaches (https://olivierterrier.fr). This emerging research group works closely with the two other groups led by Prof Bruno Lina and Dr Manuel Rosa-Calatrava within the VirPath team.

Respiratory tract infections constitute a significant public health problem, with a therapeutic arsenal that remains relatively limited and threatened by the emergence of antiviral and/or antibiotic resistance. Respiratory coinfections are very often associated with the severity of these respiratory infections and have been explored mainly in the context of bacterial superinfections following primary influenza infection. The objectives of this research group are to better understand the complex functional interactions between respiratory pathogens (Viruses/Bacteria/Fungi) and host cells and to shed light on the mechanisms underlying the exacerbation of lung pathology observed during superinfections, for example. The strategy is to develop new experimental models to study coinfections/superinfections under the most physiological conditions possible, such as reconstituted human epithelium (HAE). We characterize these models through an integrated approach, combining different microbiological, cellular, and molecular techniques. The insights gained from this research will identify crucial factors and cellular pathways involved in superinfection mechanisms. This knowledge could potentially lead to the discovery of new biomarkers or therapeutic targets for managing these complex respiratory infections more effectively.

Application process

Interested candidates are invited to contact us exclusively by email at Olivier.terrier@univ-lyon1.fr

Make sure that you include the reference to this offer in the title of your email. Please attach a CV, a motivation letter, your MSc marks, as well as a 1-page research proposal.

Professional grant application support:

Candidates will receive the support of the supervisors, as well as online training from a professional grant application company, and advices from successful applicants, to prepare and submit their application with the CIRI-VirPath as a host laboratory, to the next MSCA-PF call for proposals.