The Bikard lab at Institut Pasteur in Paris is seeking to hire a postdoctoral researcher to work on CRISPR-Cas systems and their application to study and fight pathogenic bacteria. Technologies derived from CRISPR-Cas systems offer tremendous potential to modify bacterial genomes, control gene expression or specifically kill virulent bacteria. Here are some of our focus of interest:

• we are deciphering the properties of Cas proteins in bacteria and their interaction with DNA repair pathways, providing insights into the mechanism and evolution of CRISPR-Cas systems as bacteriophage defense systems (Bernheim et al, 2017)
• we are refining CRISPR-Cas tools for bacteria and building powerful design tools using machine learning approaches (Soriano et al, 2018; Cui et al, 2018; Vigouroux et al, 2018)
• we are developing CRISPR screens as powerful tools to investigate gene function and decipher genetic interaction networks (Rousset et al, 2018)
• we are engineering bacteriophages to use them as DNA delivery vectors, with applications to the development of sequence-specific antimicrobials (Bikard et al, 2014; Bikard & Barrangou, 2017)

The successful candidate will be able to define his own line of research within the scope of interest of the lab with the support of David and other lab members. The expected start date is in the Spring 2019. The position is initially for one year, with the possibility of extension. Salary is commensurate with experience according to the Institut Pasteur guidelines.

Required skills:

• general microbiology and molecular biology techniques

Recommended skills:

• genomics techniques (DNA sequencing, RNA-seq, Chip-seq etc.)
• data analysis and statistics (R, Python)

Qualified applicants should send their CV, a statement of research interests and the contact information of two referees to david.bikard@pasteur.fr