The Institut Pasteur (IP) seeks to recruit a junior / mid-career group leader to head its Laboratory “Pathogen Discovery” in anticipation of the retirement of its current head (https://research.pasteur.fr/en/member/marc-eloit/). The laboratory is currently composed of permanent (3 engineers, 1 bioinformatician, and 1 technician) and non-permanent staff scientists (2 post-docs, 2 engineers and students/trainees). The mandate of the new laboratory will be 2 years, possibly 4 years, and at the end of this period it will have to be transformed into a Research Unit after evaluation of its project by the Scientific Council of the Institut Pasteur.
The main research objectives to be developed are:
1) Uncover pathogens in clinical cases of human diseases. In western countries, the targets are mostly progressive diseases with a possible infectious trigger, often in a context of immune suppression. Current projects use metagenomic approaches to identify pathogens in severe patients in collaboration with Necker Hospital and other French hospitals. Within the Pasteur Network (https://pasteur-network.org/), a network of 33 institutes based in the 5 continents, the challenge is mainly to be able to face epidemics of unknown origin, or endemic diseases with multifactorial and poorly defined etiologies.
2) Identify currently unknown viruses that infect humans at highly exposed human/wild animal interfaces which can therefore be candidates for global spreading. Current projects concern tick-, mosquito- and bat-borne viruses through collaboration with the Instituts Pasteur based in Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Madagascar and Cameroon.
Secondary objectives are:
3) Extend collaborations for further downstream research on the most interesting pathogens within the campus of the Institut Pasteur and in the Pasteur Network
4) Develop, optimize, validate and disseminate, in particular within the Institut Pasteur, methods of clinical and environmental metagenomics.
Candidates should have a strong training (PhD) in microbiology, preferably virology. A medical background (MD, DVM, PharmD) with a specialization in infectious diseases would be a strong asset. They must have an interest in Global Health approaches and a keen interest and motivation to develop ambitious projects in pathogen discovery with hospitals and the Pasteur Network. Excellent knowledge of metagenomic tools and the ability to integrate the coordinated development of wet lab and bioinformatic tools are required.
Candidates should have a proven leadership, strong relationship and team building skills with ability to establish internal and external collaborations across disciplines. They should also be able to manage research projects on an international scale and the day-to-day running of a laboratory (personnel, supplies and expenses).
Institut Pasteur is a non-profit private foundation dedicated to fundamental, interdisciplinary research and to the translation of knowledge for applications in medicine and public health (https://research.pasteur.fr/en/departments/) located in central Paris. It offers an outstanding and unparalleled research environment with state-of-the-art research laboratories, 20 technology platforms (https://research.pasteur.fr/en/center/c2rt/), and a large bioinformatics and biostatistics support group. The Institut Pasteur’s international network (https://pasteur-network.org/) represents a remarkable opportunity to develop the laboratory’s projects.
Eligibility: Applicants should preferably be less than 12 years after the PhD at the time of submission (14 years for women with one child and 16 years for those with two or more children).
Outstanding applicants should send a letter of interest and detailed CV to pathogen.discovery@pasteur.fr before October 28, 2022.
Shortlisted applicants will be invited to an interview in mid-November 2022 and offers will be made in late November 2022. All submissions will be kept strictly confidential.
Institut Pasteur values diverse perspectives and is committed to continually supporting, promoting, and building an inclusive and culturally diverse campus environment.