The Brain Institute (ICM) is recruiting a Post-doctoral researcher in oncology and computer science.

The Paris Brain Institute is a foundation recognized as being of public interest since September 2006, dedicated to fundamental and clinical research on the nervous system. Located in a single facility, more than 800 researchers and scientists cover all disciplines of neurology, aiming to accelerate discoveries about brain function and the development of treatments for diseases such as brain cancer, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, and more. 

Within the Paris Brain Institute, the group Gliotex is dedicated to speed up the development of innovative anti-cancer drugs and treatment approaches from pre-clinical studies to the clinics for GBM patients. Gliotex has established patient-derived cellular models and relevant pre-clinical models, and uses robust in vitro and in vivo assays to study glioblastoma response to treatment (pre-clinical assessment of drugs or medical devices in murine GBM models, single cell and spatial transcriptomic, (phospho)-proteomic, cell-based assays, etc). 

Context 

Within the framework of a research project funded by the French National Institute of Cancer (Inca), the Gliotex group is hiring a post-doctoral researcher for a contract of 3 years. The position is based in Paris, France at the Paris Brain Institute. 

Project summary:

Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most common and the most aggressive primary malignant central nervous system cancer in adults. Men are more affected by this disease and have a shorter overall survival compared to women. Increased expression of androgen receptor (AR) is observed in GBM tissue compared to non-tumour controls, suggesting that AR signalling might be an important contributor to sex-related differences. 

Immunotherapies are not efficacious in GBM. We aim to decipher the contribution of androgen signalling in GBM immune composition, evolution, and response to treatments both in pre-clinical GBM models and in GBM patients. 

This will be pursued through three objectives: 

Objective 1) Evaluate the impact of AR signaling on the immune cells distribution and phenotype in relevant pre-clinical GBM mouse models by spatial transcriptomic analysis. 

Objective 2) Through a prospective clinical study, correlate circulating hormone levels in GBM patients with tumor Androgen Receptor (AR) expression and immune cell composition. 

Objective 3) Assess the kinetics of tumour immune infiltration according to radiomic parameters from MRI images of GBM patients. 

Overall, the proposed investigations, involving both the patient level and pre-clinical models, will pave the way towards a better comprehension of the role of AR signaling on the GBM immune biology and the development of a novel therapeutic approach. 

Specific missions of the candidate: 

- Analyze and explore the already collected set of spatial transcriptomic data acquired from murine GBM tissue exposed to different hormonal contexts to generate hypothesis that can be validated functionally 

-Connect with the clinical trial project manager and technicians to collect and analyze the clinical and biological data 

-Perform radiomic analysis from patients MRI to correlate with clinical and biological data 

Competencies :
-Strong proficiency in Python or R (spatial or single cell/nuclei omics) -Strong background in the biology of oncology
-Wet lab experience in molecular biology 

CV to be sent to : maite.verreault@icm-institute.org