Postdoctoral researcher

A 2-year FRM-funded post-doctoral position is available in the Mei Li lab “Pathogenesis of Inflammatory Diseases", in Functional Genomics and Cancer Department at the institute IGBMC, Strasbourg, France.

The Institute IGBMC

The Institute of Genetics and Molecular and Cellular Biology (IGBMC), created by Pierre Chambon in 1994, is the largest research unit in France and one of the main European biomedical research centers. The goal of IGBMC is to develop interdisciplinary research at the interface of biology, biochemistry, physics and medicine, and to attract students from around the world by offering high-level education in the biomedical sciences. The IGBMC campus, located on the "Parc d'Innovation d'Illkirch" in the Strasbourg suburbs, is an exceptional scientific, academic and industrial environment that favors interdisciplinary collaborations and technology transfer. The working language is English.

The institute provides access to state-of-the-art infrastructure and platforms, including mouse genetic modification (transgenic and knockout), animal faculties, next-generation sequencing, flow cytometry, imaging, high-throughput screening, etc.

Project : Discovering a new immune tolerogenic axis across skin autoimmunity and cancer . 

Dysregulated immune responses at skin lead to inflammation involved in the development of allergies, autoimmune disorders and cancers. The lab is interested in deciphering dendritic cell (DC) -T cell axes implicated in different inflammatory pathologies. DC have specialized subsets whose local development and functions are shaped by tissue microenvironmental cues. In homeostatic and inflammatory conditions, specific DC subsets migrate into draining lymph nodes to present antigen and prime proinflammatory or tolerogenic responses. The latter can generate regulatory T cells (Treg), which are vital to the preservation of immune tolerance and suppression of exacerbated immune responses to foreign antigens, but underlying mechanisms stay poorly understood. The project will focus on a newly identified tolerogenic DC subset, to delineate its upstream activation signals, its tissue localization and dynamics, and its function in driving Treg and immunosuppressive axes in skin inflammatory contexts across autoimmune and cancer. The study is expected to use mouse genetic tools, immunological approaches (­­flow cytometry, cell sorting, adoptive cell transfer, in vitro cell differentiation and cell co-culture), and molecular biology tools particularly single cell RNA-sequencing and bioinformatic analyses. Results are expected to reveal novel tolerogenic mechanisms, and to identify potential therapeutic targets for autoimmunity and cancer.

Candidate profile 

Highly motivated individual who has a documented working experience and training in molecular and cellular biology, basic immunology or onco-immunology, and willing to spark innovation in cancer immunotherapy in a multi-disciplinary academic environment. 

 Advanced expertise in single cell or spatial transcriptome and data analyses will be valued as an asset. 

 Excellent communication skills and collaboration spirit are essential.

Contact & applications 

Pre-application, informal inquiries are welcome. For applications, please send to Dr. Mei Li:

mei@igbmc.fr

one CV, a publication list, the email contact for 2 references.