We are seeking a candidate for a PhD position funded by a French CIFRE fellowship. The candidate will share their time between Sanofi (under the supervision of Dr. Paraskevi Gkeka) and Institut Pasteur (under the supervision of Dr. Max Bonomi in the Structural Bioinformatics Unit of the Department of Structural Biology and Chemistry) and they will be enrolled in the Doctoral School “Complexité du vivant” at Sorbonne Université, Paris.
The project is focused on i) characterizing RNAs structure and dynamics using integrative computational and experimental approaches; ii) performing RNAs binding site identification and evaluation on the disease-relevant RNA types and conformations; iii) improving existing small-molecule docking techniques and implementing them in an automated platform for the rational design of small molecules that bind to the predicted RNA pockets. More information about the project and the host labs can be found here.
We are seeking a candidate with master degree (“diplôme de master”, “école d’ingénieurs”) or equivalent, and:
- Background in computational chemistry/biology/physics and/or applied mathematics;
- Experience with MD simulations and/or small-molecule virtual screening;
- Experience with enhanced-sampling methods and/or PLUMED is a plus;
- High motivation to work in both academic and industry environments.
For inquiries, please contact Dr. Gkeka (Paraskevi.Gkeka@sanofi.com) and Dr. Bonomi (mbonomi@pasteur.fr). To apply, please send an email to both email addresses and include a CV and a letter of motivation. Selected candidates will be contacted for a remote interview.
Additional practical information:
- The preferred starting date is September 2020
- Duration of the contract is 3 years
- The annual gross salary is ~40k euros
- The student will have all the benefits of a fixed-term employee (“CDD”) at Sanofi, including health insurance (“mutuelle”), ~1000 euros per year in cheques culture/vacances, and 70% reimbursement of transportation fees
- Bonus (“Remuneration Variable Collective”) is around 8k€ this year for a 40k€ gross salary. This benefit is not guaranteed and depends on the company profits
- Travel expenses (conferences, meetings, schools, training …) sustained during the PhD are covered by Sanofi
- CIFRE fellows have a 35-hour contract with 31 days-off (“Congés payés”) per year