A post-doctoral position in translational research on variable immune responses in Tuberculosis and Type 1 diabetes is available in the Unit of Dendritic Cell Biology, Department of Immunology, Institut Pasteur, Paris. Our aim is to better understand the fundamental mechanisms behind inter-individual differences in immune responses, and apply these discoveries to relevant clinical questions. To do this, we apply standardized immune monitoring to experimental clinical studies and population immunology cohorts. Proteomic, transcriptomic, and cellular data sets are analysed in a systems immunological approach and patient results compared to a well-curated healthy reference database (www.milieuinterieur.fr). This allows the mechanistic dissection of immune pathways with cellular and intracellular models, and ultimately, the testing of novel therapeutic or immunomodulatory strategies.
The specific post-doctoral project will build on existing results (Duffy et al., Immunity, 2014, Rodero et al. JEM 2017, Piasecka et al. PNAS 2018, Patin et al., Nat Immunol 2018) to generate, combine, and analyze data sets of induced immune responses from clinical studies that include:
- An ongoing clinical study, in collaboration with the Predict TB consortium (SATVI, South Africa), to identify biomarkers of early treatment response (funding Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation)
- An ongoing clinical study to identify immune biomarkers predictive of diabetic retinopathy in Type I Diabetes (funding JDRF, collaboration Moorfield’s Eye Hospital, London)
- The existing 1,000 healthy donors of the LabEx Milieu Interieur consortium for whom genetic, microbiome, and in-depth immune response data sets are available
Experimental models will utilize cutting edge proteomic, transcriptomic, and metabolomics technologies, including digital ELISA, RNA-Seq, and Mass Spec.
Requirements:
- PhD. in cellular or molecular immunology, publications in international peer-reviewed journals, and a strong interest in translational research.
- Expertise in flow cytometry and methodologies to measure cytokine and gene expression.
- Experience in data analysis of immunological data sets (e.g., programming in R)
- Proficiency in English.
Duration: 3 years funding are available, and support will be provided for self-financing through competitive fellowship applications.
Application Procedure: E-mail a CV, motivation letter, and references to darragh.duffy@pasteur.fr