PhD title: Search for new antibiotics in extremophilic worms and studying their adaptation and functions in extreme habitats
*Dead-line for application: 1st of June 2016* A PhD position is proposed under the joint supervision of two teams Unité EvoEcoPaleo/Ecoimmunology group, Université de Lille CNRS, UMR8198, France and Laboratoire Environnement Profond/Etude des Ecosystèmes Profonds, IFREMER Brest Le Plouzané, France, in the context of the PIONEER program funded by Fondation Total (2016-2019). To apply: Please send a motivation letter together with your CV to Aurélie Tasiemski ([email protected]), associate professor, EEP lab, PhD supervisor and Daniella Zeppilli researcher IFREMER ([email protected]), LEP, PhD co-supervisor before the 1st of June 2016 We are looking for a motivated candidate interested in identifying new antibiotics produced by newly found species of extremophilic nematodes and studying the role played by these peptides in the interactions of the nematodes with their surrounding microbial communities. The discovery of abundant and well-adapted nematode communities in several extreme environments has opened new frontiers in the ecology and biology of the species thriving in such ecosystems. Invertebrates adapt to extreme environments through the establishment of chemotrophic and/or detoxifying microbial symbioses. This obligatory interaction is presumably controlled by an efficient immune system based, among other factors, on the production of AntiMicrobial Peptides (AMPs). There is no consensus sequences of AMPs, with a higher AMP diversity in marine than in terrestrial species and peculiar sequences in extremophile species. The objectives of this thesis are to isolate and biochemically characterize novel AMPs produced by new discovered nematode species living in coastal and deep extreme environments and to (ii) understand the AMP based interactions between nematodes and prokaryotes in extrêmophiles habitats by using multiple approaches. This research will accommodate basic, as well as applied, research (patents are envisaged). Location: The PhD will take place at the EEP lab, Lille, France and at the LEP lab Brest, France. Cruises for sampling can be envisaged. Doctoral school : ED "Sciences de la Matière, du Rayonnement et de l'Environnement" ("SMRE" ; ED 104), Université de Lille, Sciences et Technologies ; Filière doctorale : Géosciences Ecologie Paléontologie Océanologie Funding: Co-funding between Total Fondation and the doctoral School of Lille. CV supporting the motivation and the qualification of the candidate are prerequisites for an application at the doctoral school of Lille. Applicant profile: Application to this program is open for all students, whatever their nationality, with the equivalent of a master's degree either in microbiology or in immunology or in ecology. An experience of experimental work in the laboratory is strongly required. Interests for biochemistry and interdisciplinary approaches are necessary as well as mobility.
