Job ID: 98904

Understanding the therapeutic effect of insula stimulation: link with craving and insight

Position: Post-doctoral Position

Deadline: 1 February 2022

Employment Start Date: 1 March 2022

Contract Length: 48 months

City: Poitiers

Country: France

Institution: Inserm

Department: Laboratoire de Neurosciences Experimentales et Cliniques

Description:

A junior postdoctoral research associate position is available in the team: « Neurobiology and Neuropharmacology of Psychiatric Disorders » of the LNEC laboratory, in Poitiers, France.

Contact : Dr. Pauline Belujon, pauline.belujon@univ-poitiers.fr

 

The successful applicant will be working on the long-lasting risk of relapse, one of the characteristics of addiction and one of its most troubling aspects. Until now, effective therapies for addiction are still very limited and finding new strategies that can help addicts in their efforts to remain abstinent is a real necessity. The research team “Neurobiology and Neuropharmacology of Psychiatric Disorders” of the LNEC is studying long-lasting neuroadaptations induced by chronic drug administration and obtained a four-year funding from the Institute for Public Health Research (IRESP) and the French national Cancer Institute (INCa). The LNEC laboratory is an INSERM laboratory composed of 3 teams and associated with several platforms (animal behavior, imaging).

 

We are looking for a junior post-doctoral fellow motivated by this research for a 48-month contract (full-time postdoctoral position) to participate in the project funded by IRESP/INCa. This project combines several approaches (behavior, in vivo electrophysiology and fiber photometry) to study the role of repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS)-like stimulation of the insular cortex in drug-induced synaptic plasticity in a rat model of drug self-administration. The position may be particularly suitable for candidates experienced in rodent behavior, fiber photometry and/or in vivo electrophysiology.

Activities: The post-doc fellow will be in charge of most of the experiments planned in the IRESP/INCa project “Therapeutic effect of insula stimulation: link with craving and insight”, which includes mainly in vivo experiments. The candidate will participate in the planning and realization of the experiments (self-administration experiments, fiber photometry and/or in vivo electrophysiology), in the analysis and interpretation of all the results of this project, as well as in their valorization (presentations at international conferences, manuscripts, etc).

Requirements: The ideal candidate is an independent thinker, highly self-motivated and holds a degree in Neurosciences. A high level of spoken and written English is required.

Specific skills:

  1. Scientific and technological expertise in in vivo electrophysiology and/or fiber photometry technique
  2. Design of experimental protocols within the framework of a scientific project (Implementation of behavioral protocols in rats)
  3. Knowledge of the neuroanatomy and neurobiology of addiction
  4. General knowledge of methodological approaches applied to addiction
  5. Knowledge of cell biology methodologies applied to the central nervous system
  6. Mastery of computerized data collection and statistical processing tools.
  7. Knowledge of computer languages such as Matlab/python
  8. Knowledge of health and safety regulations in the field
  9. Knowledge of ethical principles and related regulations
  10. Mastering presentation techniques (oral and written) and meeting facilitation.

Applications will be accepted until the position is filled.