Novel fish-based biological tools for EDA of environmental endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs)
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PhD position in Environmental Toxicology |
Within the EU project EDA-EMERGE, the Unit of Ecotoxicology in vitro and in vivo at INERIS seeks a PhD in the field of Environmental Toxicology.
EDA-EMERGE project aims at training a new generation of young scientists in the interdisciplinary techniques required to meet the major challenges in the monitoring, assessment and management of toxic pollution in European river basins, taking into account the enormous complexity of contamination, effects and cause-effect relationships. By integrating innovative mode-of-action based biodiagnostic tools including in vitro tests, transgenic organisms and “omics” techniques with powerful fractionation and cutting edge analytical and computational structure elucidation tools, a new generation of effect directed analysis (EDA) approaches will be developed for the identification of toxicants in European surface and drinking waters.
Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) act through multiple molecular mechanisms among which the binding to nuclear receptors (NR) is a key mechanism in the initiation of endocrine responses. A number of EDA studies have addressed the identification of environmental ligands for different receptors, e.g. estrogen (ER), androgen (AR) or dioxin (AhR) receptors, by using in vitro bioassays most often based on the use of human receptors. Apart from these studies, only few ones have used mechanism-based fish bioassays however it is now known that cross-species differences may occur when assessing sensitivity and specificity of NR response to environmental chemicals. Within the frame of ongoing projects, INERIS is developing new in vitro and in vivo reporter gene assays based on zebrafish nuclear receptors to assess the endocrine disruptive action of chemicals on fish-specific assays. In this PhD project, the implementation of such zebrafish specific bioassays within EDA protocols will be set up to identify species selective EDCs in environmental matrices. Their comparison with human-derived assays allows revealing cross-species specificity for a defined list of model substances and environmental samples. Combining in vitro and in vivo tools will allow integrative toxicological assessment and will thus provide further insights in the knowledge of adverse effect of identified compounds. This project will newly set up fish specific bioassay-based strategy to identify EDCs in environmental samples, hence refining chemical risk assessment for aquatic organisms.
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Required profile |
The candidate should be highly motivated in working in an interdisciplinary research field, through the development and the validation of innovative in vitro and in vivo biological models, and their application to (bio)analytical approaches. A background in environmental toxicology with skills in cell/molecular biology and/or analytical chemistry will be appreciated, but other candidature profiles in suitable fields will be also considered. Strong motivation, team work and excellent communication skills are essential (skills in French are optional). The place of work is at INERIS, located at 30 min from Paris (www.ineris.fr). A three months secondment at Eawag (Switzerland), a partner of EDA-EMERGE, is scheduled.
Salary will be in accordance with Marie Curie rules of the European Commission. Besides a full employment contract, including social security, the candidate will receive mobility allowances. Researchers can be of any nationality but at the time of recruitment by the host institute, they must not have resided or carried out their main activity in the country of their host organization for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately before the reference date. Applicants must be in the first four years (date of MSc certificate or equivalent) of their research careers.
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Application |
Applicants should send a brief statement describing your motivation for the proposed subject, curriculum vitae, a copies of your academic qualifications and the names (with contact details) of two referees. Please submit application before February 15th 2012. For further information, please consult http://www.ineris.fr/emplois/emploi-theses-details.php?id=1192 ; please submit your application to Dr S. Aït-Aïssa (selim.ait-aissa@ineris.fr).