The Université de Lorraine seeks applications from talented and motivated early-career researchers for a Junior Professor Chair in Paleobiochemistry. The Junior Professor will integrate the ‘Stress Response and Redox Regulation team’ (SR3) of the ‘Tree-Microbe Interactions department’ (UMR IAM). He/she will initially be recruited for a five-year period before evaluation for a permanent tenure. Candidates are expected to bring to the UMR IAM advanced skills and knowledge, and possibly a professional network, in one or more of those topics: evolutionary biology, phylogenomics, bioinformatics, molecular biology, or protein biochemistry. Interested candidates are invited to email Prof. Mélanie MOREL-ROUHIER (SR3 team lead) for further details.
The Junior Professor will be encouraged to develop a research program in evolutionary biochemistry aimed at understanding the paths of selection of protein properties during evolution, notably via the prediction and resurrection of ancestral proteins, followed by their comparison at the biochemical and functional levels with modern enzymes. To this end, the Junior Professor will directly benefit from i) the SR3 team skills in protein biochemistry and knowledge of the functional diversity of plant and fungal protein families involved in stress response or redox regulation, ii) the favorable and emulating working environment offered by the UMR IAM (approx. 100 staff members including several bioinformaticians), iii) a kick-starter budget of 200 k€, iv) the experimental platforms of the A2F scientific cluster, which provide state-of-the-art equipment and know-how for molecular analyses, bioinformatics, genomics, protein engineering, microscopy, and plant cultivation, and v) dynamic and collaborative research clusters in NANCY (Labex ARBRE, A2F scientific cluster) as well as ambitious programs of the Université de Lorraine (ex.: Lorraine Université d’Excellence, Orion, EURECA-PRO).
The Junior Professor will also be invited to build and give lectures in phylogenomics, bioinformatics, and evolutionary biology to life science graduate students of the Faculty of Sciences and Technologies (teaching load of 64 hours per year); notably within the Master programs in Agrosciences and in Microbiology. Those lecturing activities will be facilitated by the teaching department of Plant Biology, Genetics, and Microbiology, the fully-equipped training facilities of the Faculty of Sciences and Technology, and by the university pedagogy training program (DACIP).
The Université de Lorraine is one of the largest university in France; regrouping over 60.000 students and 7.000 employees throughout a network of Faculties, Technological Institutes, and Engineer Schools mostly based in NANCY and METZ. The university comprises 60 research laboratories (hosting approx. 4.000 professors or assistant-professors); many of which are joint laboratories with national research institutes such as INRAE, INRIA, or CNRS. The city of NANCY is located in the northeastern French region Grand-Est, in a European transborder area near Germany, Luxembourg, and Belgium, and only 1h30 from Paris by train. NANCY is a historical city of approx. 100.000 inhabitants, at the center of a larger urban area of approx. 500.000 inhabitants. This medium-sized city combines affordability, proximity to country-side, and, with a fifth of the population being a university student, a dynamic and culturally-active livelihood.
Contact: UMR IAM, campus FST, entrée 1B – étage 6, 54500 VANDOEUVRE-LÈS-NANCY, France
Prof. Mélanie MOREL-ROUHIER – melanie.morel@univ-lorraine.fr
