Internship in molecular mechanisms of resistance to anticancer therapy

The past two decades have revealed the success of targeting the “oncogenic addiction” of cancer cells, which make them extremely dependent on one or few genes for survival. Targeted therapies in cancer are based on the inhibition of these oncogenes and provide substantial benefits over standard chemotherapy. However, resistance remains the main barrier to targeted therapy and the greatest challenge for clinicians and researchers. Therefore, understanding the molecular mechanisms of resistance is a crucial need to develop new therapeutic strategies and achieve a durable response. Transcription can remodel the chromatin landscape and also trigger DNA damage and mutations, which are key steps in the acquisition of resistance. Therefore, we aim to study the role of transcription in the context of resistance to known anticancer agents with the goal of designing new therapeutic strategies.

We are looking for an internship student in the field of biology to join our team through the Erasmus programme (preferably at Master level). The student will work with a researcher (Agnese Cristini) and a PhD student (Lara Fernandez Martinez). He/she will perform biochemistry techniques (e.g. Western Blotting), confocal and/or high content microscopy (e.g.  array scan) and molecular biology techniques (e.g.  RNA  work,  quantitative  PCR). Previous experimental internship in a lab is desired. Interest in DNA damage, chromatin, transcription, bioinformatics or oncogenic signalling will be an advantage. Training will be provided in all the aspects of the work.

Our team (SIGNATHER team, CRCT) is led by Prof Gilles Favre and Dr Olivier Sordet and is organized in 3 main, highly integrated research axes (genome instability, biotechnology and clinics). The student will interact closely with all group members and be fully involved in meetings and social activities. In the team, we have strong expertise in student supervision as we constantly host national and international internship students (including Erasmus students) and currently have five PhD students in the group. We are located at the CRCT, a new center built in 2014 and representing the research unit of the Oncopole campus, which is the 1st example in France of symbiosis between research, care and pharmaceutical companies. The CRCT comprises 18 research groups and a cutting edge technological cluster (proteomics, flow cytometry, imaging, genomics…).

The starting date of the internship is flexible and depends on the Erasmus program. The duration is fixed at 6 months, with no possibility of change.

Do not hesitate to contact us to discuss the project or to request information.