Postdoc at Institut Jacques Monod on membranes contact sites, cell adhesion and mechanobiology

We are looking for a highly-motivated Post-doctoral researcher to work in the field of membrane trafficking, cell adhesion and mechanobiology. The project is led by Mélina Heuzé, associate professor in the group of Jean-Marc Verbavatz and Cathy Jackson at Institut Jacques Monod, Paris. Membrane contact sites (MCS) are sites of close apposition between the ER and other organelles and serve as platforms for lipid and calcium exchange. Despite the growing knowledge of the molecular composition of MCS, their roles in patho-physiological processes are less understood. We have recently discovered that VAPA, an ER-resident MCS tether, plays a key role in cancer cell motility and cell-matrix adhesion. We now intend to define precisely how lipid exchange taking place at VAPA-mediated MCS controls cell-matrix adhesion dynamics and mechanosensing. The Post-doctoral researcher will work at the interface of cell biology and biophysics, in collaboration with the group of Benoît Ladoux and René-Marc Mège at IJM, and use state-of-the-art approaches, including high-resolution microscopy, traction force measurements, FRET sensors and optogenetic tools.