Pecreaux
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News!
Open positions
- SPRING 2024 - OPEN POSITION BIOLOGY ASSISTANT ENGINEER (2 years) We wish to welcome a highly motivated assistant engineer in our multi-disciplinary team. The recruited assistant engineer will be an integral part of the on-going research project, funded by the ANR and focused on the study of the regulatory role of microtubule rigidity in cell division. Interested candidates should provide a CV showcasing relevant experiences and a cover letter outlining project interest and position suitability. Recommendation letters can be provided, this being optional.
More informations: File:Announcement AI ANR MICENN EN.pdf - To apply: https://emploi.cnrs.fr/Offres/CDD/UMR6290-HELBOU-002/Default.aspx
- SUMMER 2024 - POST-DOCTORAL RESEARCHER WANTED We are looking for a post-doctoral researcher interested in microtubule mechanics and cell division. Indeed, we wish to study how the deregulations of genes that are candidates to regulate the flexural rigidity of microtubules affect the mitotic cell division in cancerous cells. If you share similar research interests and aim to get your own funding, we will help you to write a persuasive proposal to apply for a Marie S. Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship grant in 2024 (MSCA-PF program, deadline of the EU call set to 11/09/2024). Do not hesitate to contact us for more details or see the offer details on the MSCA portal.
- Spontaneous application for PhD student or Postdoctoral stays are welcome provided that you are willing to apply for competitive fundings or have already secured your fellowship.
Latest publication
2023 - Only three principal components account for inter-embryo variability of the spindle length over time. Le Cunff Y., Chesneau L., Pastezeur S., Pinson X., Soler N., Fairbass D., Mercat B., Rodriguez Garci R., Alayan Z., Abdouni A., de Neidhardt G., Costes V., Anjubault M., Bouvrais H., Héligon C. and Pecreaux J. published in BioRxiv.
2022 - Kinetochore microtubules flux poleward along fixed centrosome-anchored microtubules during the metaphase of C. elegans one-cell embryo. Soler N., Chesneau L., Bouvrais H., Pasteuzeur S., Le Marrec L. and Pecreaux J. published in BioRxiv.
2021 - Our research on coordination of spindle-positioning forces during the asymmetric division of the Caenorhabditis elegans zygote published in EMBO reports in may 2021 has been the subject of a vulgarization article on the CNRS website (in french).
Research Interests
The CeDRE team investigates cell division through a multidisciplinary approach, linking molecular details to cell-level events. Its research interest sums up into the question: How does a robust and adaptive cell division emerge from the numerous interactions of involved players? We hypothesize that the robustness to perturbations (e.g. chromosomal instability in cancer) or adaptability (e.g. to protein evolution) emerges from a network of interacting players well approached by statistical physics. While the proteins differ between organisms, the network is evolutionarily conserved. Such a change of paradigm is highly promising for future applications in cancer therapy.
We focus on in vivo mechanics, i.e. regulation of forces that position the spindle, separate sister chromatids, etc. We investigate not only the dynamics of components but also equilibrium stability. For example, the slow drift in position or length suggest that the spindle is out-of-equilibrium ; it is thought to provide advantage for adaptability. To do so, we develop microscopy and image processing tools to quantify the dynamics in vivo using Caenorhabditis elegans as a model organism and we model the obtained data using out-of-equilibrium statistical physics.
Approach
To achieve such research, our team is multidisciplinary including:
- Biophysical modeling
- featuring a systems approach to understand collective behaviors of the players and robustness to noise; this will enable me to distinguish the dominant mechanisms.
- Validation by in vivo quantitative experiments
- using mainly partial RNA interference, in which the continuous depletion of a protein corresponds to parameter variation in the biophysical model;
- Advanced image processing and experimental physics quantification
- to ensure a detailed comparison to the model’s predictions.
Such an “experimental systems biophysics” approach, by reconciling micro- and macro-scopic scales, can provide novel perspectives in understanding biological phenomena, complementing molecular cell biology approaches, and in vitro or theoretical studies. It is particularly suitable at highlighting collective behaviors involving multiple players (proteins) to create robust cell division, able to compensate for changes in genes or environment for example.
