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Postdoctoral Fellow position

Ex vivo approaches for the study of bovine mammary gland immune mechanisms

An 18-month postdoctoral fellow position is available in the team “Bacterial Infections and Ruminants Immunity – IBIR”, Unit ISP at the INRAE Centre Val de Loire in France, under the supervision of Dr. Rodrigo Prado Martins. The successful applicant will join a research team that has accumulated infrastructure, resources and critical mass to provide relevant knowledge on the immune response of ruminants to intramammary infections caused by bacteria (mastitis) and tuberculosis.
Mastitis are the most frequent disease of dairy cows and represent the first cause of antibiotics use in dairy farming. Great effort has been made to develop vaccines against mastitis, but the limited knowledge of the mammary gland immune mechanisms has hampered the development of efficient alternatives. In this context, the applicant will employ tissue and blood cell culture to develop innovative ex vivo models circumventing in vivo experimentation for the study of cell interactions and mechanisms involved in antigen-specific immune responses in the mammary tissue. These models will be coupled to state-of-the-art techniques including advanced multi-parameter cytometry, confocal microscopy as well as single cell and bulk RNAseq.

The postdoctoral applicant must have completed a PhD or equivalent in Biological Sciences, Immunology or Cell Biology. She/he will work in collaboration with the staff of IBIR and other research teams located at INRAE Centre Val de Loire. She/he must be interested in working in a multidisciplinary and multicultural environment and should have good knowledge of English. A keen interest in veterinary immunology will be appreciated.

Required scientific skills

- Strong background in cellular and molecular biology techniques. Experience in primary cell culture will be appreciated.
- Knowledge of multicolour flow cytometry analysis and protocols design. Practical experience with softwares for flow cytometry data acquisition and analysis (DIVA, FlowJo, Kaluza).
- Experience in standard techniques of cell imaging
- Experience with high-throughput transcriptomics will be appreciated.

Qualities

- Scientific rigor
- Good capacity to communicate and open-minded attitude

Applicants should forward a CV with the contact of the references and a statement of research interests by e-mail to: rodrigo.prado-martins@inrae.fr

For more information, please visit the following websites:

https://www6.val-de-loire.inrae.fr/infectiologie-santepublique_eng
https://www6.val-de-loire.inrae.fr/infectiologie-santepublique_eng/Research/Bacteriology-teams/Bacterial-infections-and-immunity-in-ruminants
https://www6.val-de-loire.inrae.fr/infectiologie-santepublique_eng/Staff-members/Bacteriology-scientific-staff/Prado-Martins