Postdoctoral Position - Epilepsy research program (M/F) INSTITUT IMAGINE

The group of Dr. Edor Kabashi and Prof. Rima Nabbout is recruiting a postdoctoral scientist to develop projects investigating mechanisms of epilepsy, focusing on Developmental Epileptic Encephalopathies (DEEs).

The selected candidate will contribute to the Innov4-ePik RHU project, funded by the National Research Agency as part of the French 2030 investment program. This ambitious project aims to propose a new therapeutic paradigm for patients with drug-resistant epilepsy by bringing together 10 academic and industrial partners.

Context :

Epilepsies are a group of heterogeneous diseases having in common seizures onset and co-morbidities. Epilepsies affect around 1% of the population with a higher incidence in infants and children, with approximately 80% of these epilepsies initiating in childhood. In addition to medical, social, psychological, and economic burden due to seizures, epilepsies in childhood have a major impact on the neurodevelopment and autonomy in adulthood. To address these major challenges in childhood epilepsies, Innov4-ePiK program will establish game changing approaches to improve the outcome and quality of life of patients with DEEs. This is made possible thanks to the identification of innovative smart biomarkers based on clinical, electrical, biological, and imaging data from patients' cohorts associated with in silico and in vivo models.

Project :

The main goal of this project is to investigate the physiopathological mechanisms of discovered potassium channel mutations in DEEs using in vitro and in vivo models.

The candidate will be able to explore a range of scientific questions using zebrafish genetic models, patient cell lines and organoids with the goal of taking novel genetic discoveries from the mechanistic investigation to therapeutic leads. Our close collaboration with expert technological platforms (e.g. multi-omics, iPSC, imaging, electrophysiology, single-cell analysis, bioinformatics, etc.) allows access to the latest tools for fundamental research, biomarker identification and development of automated drug screening assays leading to in-house clinical applications. The day-to-day collaboration with the reference centre for rare epilepsies team and the lessons learned from the clinical groups and the cohorts' data collected will accelerate the translation from bench to bed.

Your profile :

• Highly motivated PhD in molecular biology, genetics, neuroscience or related areas ;

• Good publication track record ;

• Experimental skills in hiPSC culture will be appreciated ;

• Additional skills in epilepsy, animal experimentation (zebrafish) and cell imaging are considered as a plus ;

• Team player attitude and problem solving skills ;

• Self-motivation and ability to work independently are vital.

(Knowledge of French is not a requirement.)

Contract :

• Fixed-term contract: 2 years, renewable ;

• During this period, the successful candidate will be encouraged to apply for an external postdoctoral fellowship to pursue the project ;

• Starting date: flexible ;

• Salary: on experience.

Your application :

Please send a motivation letter with a statement of research interest, a detailed CV with publication list and three references.

The Imagine Institute (IHU, 'Institut Hospitalo-Universitaire', INSERM U1163) is a recent research structure located within Necker Children's Hospital (Paris).

Its research labs are focused on understanding the molecular mechanisms of genetic diseases that affect the adaptive and innate immune systems, the skeletal dysplasia, the nervous system, stem cell differentiation, kidney physiology, metabolism, etc.

The team of Dr. Edor Kabashi is involved in all the aspects of translational research in an integrative approach, from a better characterization of patients and their genetic markers to modelling and fundamental research to identify appropriate therapeutic targets, and ultimately developing clinical trials to test novel treatments. This research is highly patient driven, with extensive phenotyping using the multidisciplinary expertise in clinical testing and the state-of-the-art platforms that are available at the Imagine Institute in the Necker Hospital site (e.g. genomic sequencing, electrophysiology, metabolic screening, imaging), while fostering collaborations with a network of national and international collaborations.

Pr. Rima Nabbout, who leads the Reference Center for Rare Epilepsies (CReER) at Necker Hospital, is coordinating the epilepsy research project, bridging the clinical and fundamental aspects for an integrative approach. CReER is internationally renowned for the phenotypic classification of patients, the genetic analysis of large patient cohorts leading to the identification of novel genetic factors and delineating natural history of DEEs based on natural language processing and other AI techniques. Pr Nabbout and team are actively involved in the main orphan drugs and therapies development for rare epilepsies and recognized for spearheading successful clinical trials.