Call for application
Inserm Chair Recruitment

Bacterial immunity, phagotherapy and new therapies to combat antibiotic resistance

Find a link to the complete description of the job offer at the end ⬇️

Strategy of the host institution

The host institution aims to strengthen the knowledge on bacterial immunity against phages and to develop phagotherapy and/or novel strategies to fight antibioresistance in bacteria.
The CPJ project should provide the fundamental basis to understand, support and/or develop the translational theme of phagotherapy in conjunction with the PHAGEinLYON project at Hospices Civils de Lyon.

Strategy of the host laboratory

The overall objective of the Centre International de Recherche en Infectiologie (CIRI) is to "understand the interactions between microbes and their hosts in order to better fight infectious diseases”.
The strategy of the host laboratory is to develop fundamental research on bacteria and their interactions with phages with the long-term goal to promote the rationale development of phagotherapy.
The fundamental study of bacterial immunity against phages/ resistance mechanisms against phages may open prospects for the identification and understanding of certain immune mechanisms and their evolution
from prokaryotes to man.
The proposed position fits in the three specialties of the CIRI: Bacteriology-Immunology-Virology and the recruited researcher is expected to interact with researchers from the different specialties.
Bacteriology at CIRI includes two National Reference centers (Staphylococcus and Legionella) with a large collection of clinical strains that could synergize with the scientist project.

Summary of the scientific project

The increasing prevalence of antibiotic resistance calls for the development of alternative therapies to antibiotics. Among these, phage therapy is particularly promising, but requires a better understanding of
bacteria-phage interactions.
Bacteria have developed numerous immune mechanisms (e.g., CRISPR/Cas9 system) against bacteriophages.
Interestingly, a number of these systems are conserved in eukaryotes (cGAS, Gasdermin...), including humans. A better understanding of the mechanisms by which bacteria escape phages could help in the rational
development of phage therapy but could also provide an original perspective on eukaryotic immune responses.
We expect the recruited scientist to develop a project to better understand bacterial immunity/resistance to phages and/or to develop a project allowing a more controlled development of phagotherapy. Broader
antibacterial therapies allowing to fight antibioresistance may be considered.

Summary of the teaching project 

The recruited scientist will teach in several UCBL1 courses including the Microbiology master -M2 molecular microbiology, pathogenesis, microbial ecology and the Molecular and Cellular Biology master-Infectiology section.

National Research Agency package

200k€

Scientific communication and dissemination, Science and society

Scientific communication and dissemination: The research will be published in peer-reviewed journals. Scientific communication will also occur through presentations at international scientific meetings. Inserm,
UCBL1, CNRS and ENS de Lyon press services will be also contacted for dissemination to the public. Dissemination via the CIRI Twitter and website will also take place. Whenever applicable, patents will be
deposited in tight collaboration with Inserm transfer or the Pulsalys SATT.

Open Science: All the publications will be deposited in the HAL open archives system. The researcher will be encouraged to submit to preprint server (e.g. BioRxiv).

Science and society: This project should provide the fundamental bases for a rational for the development of phagotherapy or to better understand the chance of success/ the risk of failure of a given therapy against a
particular pathogenic bacterium. In front of the rise of antibiotic resistance, the development of novel therapies is key for public health. Popularization conferences will be held in events such as fête de la Science.

Requirements and how to apply

Find the complete offer HERE, including guidelines on how to apply

Contacts

Research contacts: Thierry WALZER, thierry.walzer@inserm.fr and Thomas HENRY, thomas.henry@inserm.fr

Administrative contact: chaires-professeur-junior@inserm.fr