Position of Postdoctoral Research Scientist – Development of countermeasures against botulinum neurotoxins

The Bacterial Toxins Unit at Institut Pasteur, in Paris, France
(https://research.pasteur.fr/fr/team/bacterial-toxins/) is engaged in a network of
Franco-German collaborations established between academic laboratories and
industrials partners financed by ANR and BMBF. Partners have developed in close
collaboration new tools and methods aimed at producing countermeasures against
botulism. This disease consists in a progressive descending neuromuscular flaccid
paralysis, triggered by protein neurotoxins, that can evolve up to respiratory failure.
Botulinum neurotoxins are the most potent poisons found in nature and as such
represent a public health risk. Currently, mechanical ventilation in intensive care units
and serotherapy are the only palliative measures available to reduce the progression
of the disease and risk of death caused by these deadly neurotoxins.
The German and French governments have committed funds to provide Europe with
a therapeutic serum product against botulism. The research phase initiated since 2020
has led to establish new tools and methods allowing standard production of equine
F(ab’)2 immunoglobulins against main serotypes of botulinum neurotoxins BoNT/ABEF
and a tetravalent prototype to treat natural cases of botulism.
The selected postdoctoral researcher will have the opportunity to contribute to
establishing reference standard products and transfer of technologies to a company
that is responsible for developing the therapeutic product. The work will include both
in vivo experiments in mice and the implementation of in vitro approaches to define
neutralization titers of equine serum products through biochemical and biophysical
approaches.
We seek motivated candidates holding a PhD degree in biochemistry or molecular
biology, as well as having expertise in mice handling to conduct in vivo experiments.
Moreover, the candidate must have scientific rigor, as well as must be fluent in English
to write reports and present the results to the European consortium.
The funding for this position is available for two years with a salary depending on the
experience of the candidate. Application including a CV, motivation letter and reference
letters must be addressed to emmanuel.lemichez@pasteur.fr. Closing date for
applications is March 31th 2024. However, we reserve the right to close the vacancy
early depending on the volume of applications received.