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Offres de poste au Neurocentre
POST-DOC
1 Post-doc position available in France (Nantes (44)) for a research project on environmental factors, feeding behaviour and brain plasticity.
Applications are invited from highly motivated and qualified neuroscientists with strong interest in the study of dynamic processes of arcuate circuits. Experience in imaging techniques is desirable and knowledge in electronic microscopy will be appreciated. Good competence on brain morphology and synapses analysis is necessary.
In mammals the morpho-functional organization of the CNS is established during the prenatal and early postnatal periods of development through a precise program of neurogenesis, gliogenesis, migration, and cell differentiation. Several environmental factors as maternal nutrition can affect these processes leading to long-lasting alterations in brain function. Nutrient deficiency during perinatal development induces an increased risk to develop obesity, diabetes, and hypertension at adulthood both in humans and experimental animals (Barker, 2004; Langley-Evans, 2009). This increased susceptibility to develop metabolic disorders is associated with perturbations in the control of appetite and energy homeostasis.
Maternal protein restriction in mice or rats during gestation is widely used to program metabolic syndrome and corresponds with the levels of protein deprivation observed in countries with poor socio-economic conditions. Importantly, all these models show long-term programming effects independently of their impact on birth weight. Metabolic consequences of fetal undernutrition in these models have been largely described, but only few studies have addressed the question of feeding behaviour in the short and long term.
In our laboratory we showed that low protein exposed males demonstrated hyperphagia from weaning that resulted from an enhanced meal size rather than an increase in the number of meals with a significantly higher expression levels of orexigenic neuropeptides suggesting a high drive toward food intake. At adulthood the same rats demonstrated fat accumulation, leptine resitance and preference for fat food. Despite these observations, the precise biological processes mediating this metabolic programming are not well understood. We explored the consequences of maternal protein reduction on the organization of hypothalamic neural circuits involved in the regulation of energy balance and showed that neural projections from the arcuate nucleus to the paraventricular nucleus were markedly reduced in the offspring (Coupe, 2010). Furthermore transcripts and proteins analysis demonstrated differential expression of factors implicated in growth cone formation and synaptogenesis. (Coupé et al 2010, Alexandre et al, 2011). However, the cellular and molecular mechanisms that are at the heart of the neurological and metabolic disturbances associated with malnutrition in early life remain largely to be determined.
We would like to test now if the dynamic plasticity of the arcuate nucleus is modified in this specific animal model. To do so we will evaluate pre and postsynaptic markers during postnatal brain development and analyze arcuate nucleus plasticity after a diet induced obesity at adulthood. This project will be part of a regional project on “food and brain plasticity” that is granted for three years by the “Région Pays de la Loire”.
Salary: This is a full-time post available from March 1, 2012 by INRA ‘National Institute of Agronomy Research”. The salary will be in the range of 27,000 - 30,000 Euros per annum (gross salary). The successful candidate will be placed on the grade and scale appropriate to qualifications and experience.
Contact: Applications, including CV, and the name of at least two academic references should be sent to Patricia Parnet. patricia.parnet@univ-nantes.fr
Location: UMR 1280 INRA-university of Nantes and Human Nutrition Research Centre, Nantes, France.
Laboratory of Circuit and Dendritic Mechanisms underlying Cortical Plasticity
Appel de candidatures pour un poste postdoctoral afin de rechercher in vivo la physiologie des neurones individuels avec leurs connectome (voir Rancz et al., 2011 pour l'approche technique). Le poste fait partie d'un projet financé par Bordeaux Neurocampus au sein du laboratoire du Dr. Andreas Frick au Neurocentre Magendie à Bordeaux. Le début du poste peut être dès maintenant mais avant le 15 Octobre et le financement est initialement pour deux ans.
Les candidats doivent détenir un doctorat en neurosciences, physique, médecine ou un domaine connexe et avoir une excellente expérience dans les deux: 1) l'électrophysiologie, en particulier l'enregistrement par patch-clamp à partir de neurones in vivo / tranches de cerveau; 2) les systèmes de neurosciences.
Les candidats possédant une expertise exceptionnelle dans d'autres domaines (par exemple l'utilisation de vecteurs viraux) peuvent également être considérés.
Pour plus de détails contactez le Dr. Andreas Frick (email: andreas.frick@inserm.fr).
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