Postdoc (H/F): Electrophysiology and behavioral tests in mouse models of SCN1A neurodevelopmental...

-Chronic video-EEG recordings in mice and signal analysis.
- Behavioral tests on mice to quantify cognitive functions, motor skills and social interactions.
- Chronic pharmacological treatments (in particular intranasal application).
- Ex vivo and cell culture patch-clamp recordings.
- Statistical analysis and formatting of results.
- Follow-up of the literature and improvement/adaptation of techniques and analyses according to the development of the research projects.

Post-doctoral researcher in charge of the development and conduct of experimental approaches, in the framework of research projects on models of neurodevelopmental disorders and epilepsies related to SCN1A gene mutations, which are funded by several grants.
Mutations of the SCN1A gene, encoding the main sodium channel of GABAergic neurons (Nav1.1), have been implicated in severe neurodevelopmental disorders (Mantegazza et al., 2021, Physiological Reviews, 101(4):1633-1689; Mantegazza & Broccoli 2019 Epilepsia 60(S3):S25-S38). In particular, Dravet syndrome (DS), an epileptic encephalopathy characterized by drug-resistant seizures and cognitive/behavioral deficits, is caused by loss-of-function mutations in SCN1A/Nav1.1, which induce generalized disinhibition of neuronal networks. We have also identified other mechanisms involved in homeostatic responses and pathological changes in neural networks in mouse models that recapitulate the DS phenotype. The overall goals of the research projects are: 1) to better understand the pathological mechanisms in animal models, in particular homeostatic and pathological remodeling, 2) to develop treatments by directly targeting the initial genetic dysfunction (the loss of function of SCN1A/Nav1.1), as well as homeostatic and pathological remodeling.

The Institute of Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology - IPMC - is a multi-thematic institute of the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) and the University of Côte d'Azur (UCA) located in the technology park of Sophia Antipolis. The IPMC hosts 20 research teams (220 persons), which benefit from state-of-the-art platforms in imaging, electrophysiology, integrative biology, functional genomics, molecular and cellular biology, cytometry, biomolecule analysis.
The group of Massimo Mantegazza has an established expertise in the study and development of SCN1A/Nav1.1 models in vivo, ex vivo and in vitro, and all the tools and the techniques are routinely used.