PhD position in cell and RNA biology - H/F

The “Institut de Biology Valrose (iBV)” and the “Institut de Chimie (ICN)” are international Institutes located on the Valrose Campus of the University Côte d'Azur (Nice, France). The iBV hosts state-of-the-art technological platforms dedicated in particular to light microscopy, cytometry and bioinformatics. English is the working language in the team and in the Institute.
The team (http://ibv.unice.fr/research-team/besse/ ) is currently composed of about 10 members.

We are looking for a highly motivated student to work on subcellular localization of RNAs, on a project at the interface between biology and chemistry. The student will join the Besse group (http://ibv.unice.fr/research-team/besse/ ) at the Institut de Biologie Valrose (iBV-UMR7277; Nice, France) and work in close collaboration with the “Fluorescent Probes” group at the Institut de Chimie (ICN-UMR7272).

Our main research objective is to understand how specific classes of mRNAs are localized at the subcellular level in polarized cells such as neurons. Specifically, we study how mRNAs assemble with regulatory proteins into dynamic macromolecular complexes, and how they are regulated in space and time in response to developmental or activity-related signals. To address these questions, we use Drosophila (fruit fly) as a powerful in vivo system where advanced genetics, imaging and biochemistry can be combined. Over the years, we have used and developed a range of complementary assays including in vivo live-cell imaging, in vivo RIP-seq, high-throughput microscopy and in vitro reconstitution assays.

The successful candidate will be involved in the characterization of novel fluorogenic probes and use them for quantitative detection of localized mRNAs in vivo. He/she will also functionally dissect the role of distinct RNA-binding domains in the spatiotemporal recognition and regulation of RNAs.

Selected references:
- Formicola et al. (2021). eLife. 10:e65742. doi: 10.7554/eLife.65742.
- Formicola N., Vijayakumar J. and Besse F. (2019). Traffic. 20(9):639-649. doi: 10.1111/tra.12672.
- Vijayakumar et al. (2019). Nature communications. 10(1):2593. doi: 10.1038/s41467-019-10554-w.
- Medioni et al. (2015). Nature protocols. 10(4):574-84. doi: 10.1038/nprot.2015.034.
- Barnoin, G. et al. (2021) Nucleic Acids Res. 49(12) :e72. doi:10.1093/nar/gkab237.