The Laboratory of Biochemistry at ESPCI ParisTech, directed by Prof. Andrew GRIFFITHS, seeks to recruit a post-doc with experience in molecular biology. The successful candidates will join a highly multidisciplinary team, with experience spanning biology, chemistry and physics. The projects of the laboratory are based around droplet-based microfluidics, a powerful new ultrahigh-throughput system in which reaction volumes can be miniaturized by up to a million-fold compared to conventional assays in microtitre plates. This opens up exciting prospects for the development of extremely innovative systems with many applications in the Life Sciences.
We are seeking a motivated post-doc to work on our research project related to the origin of life. Metabolism-first theories on the origin of life suggest that there may have been prebiotic systems capable of propagation and Darwinian evolution that were not dependent on genetic, nucleotide-based replication. However, to date metabolism-first theories are not supported by experimental evidence. We are testing this idea experimentally by observing the formose reaction compartmentalized in protocell analogues.
The successful candidate should possess a PhD in physico-chemistry and/or soft matter, with ideally an experience in droplet-based microfluidics (not mandatory).
Flexibility, autonomy, the ability to work in a highly multidisciplinary team and good interpersonal skills are essential.