Postdoctoral position for EU project ARTiDe: A novel regulatory T celltherapy for type 1 diabetes

Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is an incurable disease, often starting in childhood, caused by the autoimmune destruction of insulin-producing beta cells, yet the standard of care is insulin replacement, acting only at the symptom level. Thus, T1D is a disease with a high unmet need for innovative therapy.

 

We have the goal of developing a cell-based therapy using TCR-engineered Tregs for cell therapy in type 1 diabetes.

This project is funded via the European consortium ARTiDe coordinated by S. Fillatreau. ARTiDe involves 8 partners providing novel technologies for the systematic identification of autoantigen-specific Tregs and Teffs in humans, the selection of optimal TCR to produce protective Tregs, innovative humanized T1D pre-clinical models to test their efficacy and safety, the development of industrial process for TCR-engineered Treg production, and new Treg supporting strategies in vivo.

 

This post-doctoral scientist will work on 1) the molecular characterization of autoreactive Teffs and Tregs at single cell level in patients with T1D and control in order to decipher the basis for the loss of immunological tolerance in this human disease, as well on 2) the evaluation of the selected autoreactive TCR obtained through the single cell studies above for their capacity to produce protective Tregs using a novel humanized model for T1D.

 

INEM is a biomedical research center including 19 teams and two departments: “Cell Biology (Growth and Signaling)” and “Immunology, Infectiology, and Haematology”. Together with the IMAGINE institute and the Hôpital Necker-Enfants Malades, it makes up the Necker campus which, supported by state-of-the-art core facilities, provides a vibrant environment for basic research and translational innovation. The Campus has a long-standing reputation for scientific excellence (8 principal investigators (PIs) at INEM received ERC awards) and key pioneering medical contributions (e.g. transplantation, biotherapy, gene therapy).

 

The position is funded for a post-doctoral scientist (3 years).

 

Please send your application via email in English with CV, a brief outline of previous research, and contact details of three references to: simon.fillatreau@inserm.fr ; simonfillatreau@googlemail.com

 

Simon Fillatreau

INEM- Team – Immunity in Health and Disease

156-160, rue de Vaugirard, 75015 Paris, France