Post-doctoral Position
in Chemosensory Perception
Application deadline:15th of March 2013
Address:
Centre des Sciences du Goût et de l’Alimentation UMR-6265 CNRS, UMR-1324 INRA,
Université de Bourgogne, 6 Boulevard Gabriel 21000 Dijon, France.
Background:
Applicants must have a PhD degree in a related field and must be extremely motivated in the understanding of biological questions. Recognized experiences either in neurobiology, or in the study of chemosensory behaviors in insects are necessary.
Job and task descriptions:
A post-doctoral position is available at the “Centre des Sciences du Goût et de l’Alimentation” (CSGA) in Dijon,
France. The starting date will be the 1st of April 2013. The position is for 1 year, renewable 2 more years.
The main task of the candidate will be to find possible conserved roles of food odors impacting courtship in mosquito. Mating in mosquito is probably one of the most understudied aspects of their life cycle. Data are now  more and more available describing the role of acoustic signals in male-female copulation success (Cator et al.
2009). But nothing or little is known regarding the role of odorants in the mosquito courtship ritual. Is there a  role for food odor and their olfactory receptors in male courtship and copulation success? To reply to this question, we will use our knowledge of the olfactory perception in Drosophila, and its role in controlling
courtship. Our goal would be to try to find strategies (related to olfaction) to confuse and to reduce male mosquito courtship and reproductive success with females. The ultimate goal will be to control their population close to human populations in a safe way for the environment. This could lower the chance for humans to
contract diseases carried out by mosquito, without affecting too much the equilibrium of the food chain (mosquito are important food sources for species such as birds). The candidate will start this work on Anopheles gambiae, and Aedes aegypti. He/she will also be involved in a side project using Drosophila melanogater to identify new olfactory neurons impacting male courtship.
This work will be supported by an ERC Starting Grant (1’500’000 €, 2012-2017). The successful candidate will join a new group at the CSGA currently composed of Dr. Y Grosjean (PI), 2 assistant professors, 1 postdoc, 1 engineer in Biology, and a PhD student. 2 more collaborators will be hired in a near future.
Lab web site: http://www2.dijon.inra.fr/csga/site_eng/science_eq3_erc.php
The CSGA is located in the dynamic historical city of Dijon, and offers a stimulating and competitive research environment in modern biology, with multidisciplinary expertise particularly in chemoperception research.
Representative publications:
Grosjean Y., Rytz R, Farine J.P., Abuin L., Cortot J., Jefferis G.S.X.E. & Benton R. 2011 An olfactory receptor for food-derived odours promotes male courtship in Drosophila. Nature, 478, 236-40.
Ai M., Min S., Grosjean Y., Leblanc C., Bell R., Benton R. & Suh GS. (2010) Acid sensing by the Drosophila olfactory system. Nature 468, 691-695.
Grosjean Y., Grillet M., Augustin H., Ferveur J.-F. & Featherstone D.E. (2008) A glial amino-acid transporter controls synapse strength and courtship in Drosophila. Nature Neuroscience 11, 54-61.
Procedure:
Applications, preferentially by e-mail, are invited in the form of a motivation letter, a curriculum vitae, a complete list of publications and attended meetings, and the names of three references (with e-mails and phone numbers). Please note that incomplete applications will not be considered.
Gross salary:
2285.20 €/months, this could be adjusted depending on previous postdoctoral experience.
Contact address:
Dr. Yaël Grosjean
Centre des Sciences du Goût et de l’Alimentation UMR-6265 CNRS, UMR-1324 INRA, Université de Bourgogne, 6 Boulevard Gabriel 21000 Dijon, France.phone ++33(0)380396291
e-mail: yael.grosjean(at)u-bourgogne.fr