PhD offer University of Montpellier: Social Neurosciences: Inflammatory and painful Responses to Social Stress in Suicidal Behaviors

8 Mar 2024
Job Information

Organisation/Company

University of Montpellier

Research Field

Other

Researcher Profile

First Stage Researcher (R1)

Country

France

Application Deadline

21 Apr 2024 - 08:00 (Europe/Paris)

Type of Contract

Temporary

Job Status

Full-time

Offer Starting Date

1 Oct 2024

Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme?

Not funded by an EU programme

Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure?

No

Offer Description

What is the ExposUM Doctoral Nexus?

The Doctoral Nexus proposed by the ExposUM Institute are networks of 3 to 4 PhD students from different disciplines and affiliated to at least two different research units. Compared with a traditional PhD, taking part in a Doctoral Nexus will encourage the ability to work in a team and to design projects in a transdisciplinary way while deepening one's own field of expertise. A specific teaching programme will be offered and the doctoral students concerned will also have the opportunity to organise a seminar within the Nexus network. Theses are funded from the outset for 4 years, including the PhD student's salary and an environmental allowance.

Project Summary Nexus SECS (Society & Social Environment in the Face of Suicidal Behaviors)

Suicide, with 700,000 annual deaths, including 10,000 in France, represents a major challenge for global health. It generates enormous social and economic costs, particularly through healthcare consumption. The complexity of suicidal phenomena, influenced by individual, social, and environmental factors, requires a holistic approach. The current challenge lies in identifying reliable clinico-biological markers to enhance our predictive capabilities for individuals at risk and to develop effective and personalized therapeutic strategies.

Suicidal behavior appears as a means to escape unbearable psychological and social pain rather than life itself. Indeed, isolation and social exclusion, unfortunately, a very current issue, are sources of pain that precipitate suicidal acts. Through excessive healthcare consumption, individuals at suicide risk might attempt to alleviate this pain and reconnect with society.

Social bonds are essential for survival. When their integrity is threatened, psychological/social pain and an inflammatory response are induced similarly to physical pain and inflammation in the face of threats to physical integrity. Studying painful and inflammatory responses in situations of social adversity is therefore necessary for a better understanding of the pathophysiological mechanisms of suicidal behaviors.

Suicide prevention is an obvious health priority that, at the societal level, must be aligned with the upcoming legalization of assisted suicide, which could alter social representations of suicide. Our proposal is an integrated research program, anchored in ethics (ED Droit et science politique ED 461), statistical modeling (IDESP, UMR1318), and biomarkers (IGF, ED CBS2), offering a comprehensive approach to understand, prevent, and manage suicidal behaviors.

Axis 1 - Ethics and Social Representations: The debate on assisted suicide raises complex ethical questions, juxtaposing pain relief and suicide prevention. A thorough reflection on suicide prevention, adapting to its changing social representations, will be addressed.

Axis 2 - Modeling and Prediction of Suicide Risk: The use of healthcare consumption data provides a unique opportunity to model suicide risk. Using a statistical and artificial intelligence approach, the construction of predictive algorithms, notably through the use of neural networks, aims to better predict suicidal behaviors.

Axis 3 - Biomarkers of Suicidal Behaviors: Exploring the psychological pain and specific immuno-inflammatory response of individuals at suicide risk exposed to social stress, the identification of biomarkers will strengthen the pathophysiological understanding of suicidal behaviors, paving the way for personalized treatment strategies.

By approaching suicidal phenomena from different perspectives, our project contributes to understanding the impact of the exposome on suicidal behaviors and initiates a reflection on the transformation of social environments, promoting the development of personalized and effective interventions. The project will naturally allow the three axes to interpenetrate, as each aspect questions the others: personalized medicine - pain - ethics - use of artificial intelligence.

Thesis Topic: Social Neurosciences: Inflammatory and painful Responses to Social Stress in Suicidal Behaviors

Facing psychosocial stressors such as breakups, financial or professional difficulties is central to our human condition; however, some individuals attempt suicide in such contexts of social adversity, suggesting the existence of interindividual differences in vulnerability to social stress. Clinically, interpersonal social stressors induce social pain, which could be likened to psychological pain; the latter is associated with suicidal ideation and predictive of suicide attempt (SA) within a year among depressed individuals. Also, perceived psychological pain in daily life in individuals with a history of SA and the level of basal inflammation correlate with orbitofrontal cortex activation during an experimental social exclusion task (Cyberball game), promoting altered decision-making, which is a cognitive trait of suicide vulnerability. Biologically, childhood maltreatment, loneliness, and social exclusion, suicide risk factors, are associated with increased hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal axis activity and inflammation. However, the emergence of psychological/social pain and its link to the inflammatory response remains to be established, especially in individuals at risk of suicide. Our team (and others) identified, through salivary cortisol measurement, that increased reactivity to social stress during an experimental social stress (Trial Social Stress Test) characterized a specific group of suicide risk subjects. However, studies on the inflammatory response to social stress in individuals with a history of SA are still lacking.

We hypothesize that suicide risk patients have a specific biological (inflammatory) and painful (psychological pain) response to situations of social exclusion or devaluation, promoting suicidal ideation or behaviors. Our overall goal is to identify biomarkers for suicidal behavior in interpersonal social stress situations through the study of inflammation and psychological pain in patients with a history of depression.

Based on data already collected in clinical studies conducted by our team, we propose to:

• Compare peripheral immune-inflammatory and painful responses to experimental social stress (TSST) in subjects with and without a history of SA.
• Test the predictive value of these markers (clinical and biological) on the risk of SA occurrence within a year.
• Study the influence of individuals' baseline inflammatory status on psychological/social pain following experimental social stress.
• Identify, both cross-sectionally and prospectively, the link between psychological pain, peripheral inflammatory markers (serum, cellular, gene expression of inflammation, and epigenetics), and suicidal ideation in local cohorts of depressed patients and a national cohort of bipolar disorder patients.
• Evaluate the modulating or mediating effect of inflammation between the presence of early (childhood maltreatment) or late (loneliness) adversity.
• Assess the impact of social support on psychological pain and inflammation in suicide risk patients.

To achieve these objectives, we will leverage data collected from clinical studies conducted by our team (using TSST (N=75) and Cyberball Game (N=155)), a cohort of depressed patients followed in our Department (N>800), or a cohort of bipolar disorder patients followed in the national FACE-BD network (N>3000).

The project aims to identify pathophysiological mechanisms involved in vulnerability to suicidal behavior related to exposure to interpersonal stressors, leading to the precise identification of particularly at-risk individuals, therapeutic target identification, and personalization of therapeutic strategies based on patient profiles.

Application Procedure

The application must consist of the following elements:

• A resume (CV)
• A letter of motivation
• A copy of the diploma allowing enrollment
• Specific documents requested by the doctoral school Sciences Chimiques et Biologiques pour la Santé (CBS2) (https://edcbs2.umontpellier.fr/ )

If you wish to apply for this position, please send an email as soon as possible to: [email protected] [email protected] cc : [email protected] afin de les informer de votre intérêt.

Before Sunday, April 21st, 8:00 PM CET

More information availalble here (as of March 11th, 2024):

https://www.umontpellier.fr/articles/appel-a-projet-doctoral-nexus-campagne-2024

Requirements

Research Field

Other

Education Level

Master Degree or equivalent

Languages

ENGLISH

Level

Good

Languages

FRENCH

Level

Good

Internal Application form(s) needed
Sujet Nexus 2024 Courtet EN.pdf
English
(916.61 KB - PDF)
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Additional Information
Work Location(s)

Number of offers available

1

Company/Institute

IGF Montpellier

Country

France

Geofield

Where to apply

E-mail

[email protected]

Contact

State/Province

FRANCE

City

Montpellier

Website

https://www.umontpellier.fr/

Street

163 rue Auguste Broussonnet

Postal Code

34000

STATUS: EXPIRED