Chrono
Join a cohort of 12 doctoral researchers in ChronoBridge, a European Marie Skłodowska-Curie Doctoral Network. The programme connects biological clocks, physiology and metabolism through international collaboration.
Host and supervision
The position is supervised by Dr Ganna Panasyuk in the Nutrient Sensing Mechanisms laboratory at the Institut Necker Enfants Malades (INEM), Université Paris Cité (Paris, France). The laboratory studies how cells sense nutrients and adjust their metabolism and gene activity, and how changes in these signalling mechanisms contribute to disease.
You will receive regular supervision, advice from senior researchers, quarterly meetings with an independent advisor, an annual committee review and support from a non-academic mentor. A local co-supervisor will guide each research visit.
Research project
The liver is the body’s metabolic hub: it senses nutrients, adapts across feeding and fasting, and signals its state to other organs. Class 3 PI3K (PI3K-3) is an evolutionarily ancient nutrient-sensing lipid kinase complex, best known for membrane trafficking and autophagy. Our work shows that liver PI3K-3 reprograms hepatic gene activity and metabolism in response to nutrients and influences whole-body glucose homeostasis, placing it to control what the liver releases and how distant tissues respond.
This project uses fasting–refeeding cycles — the physiological model of adaptation to nutrients — to ask how liver PI3K-3 coordinates whole-body metabolism. In mouse models with altered liver PI3K-3, you will define how the pathway shapes the liver’s response and its consequences for transcription and metabolism in peripheral organs, identify the liver-derived signals carrying this information, and dissect, in hepatocytes, how PI3K-3 produces them.
Your research will involve:
- Characterising how liver PI3K-3 controls adaptation to fasting–refeeding cycles, profiling gene activity and metabolism in liver and peripheral tissues (muscle, heart, adipose).
- Identifying the signals the liver releases, combining arterial–venous sampling in vivo with hepatocyte secretome and metabolite profiling to pinpoint PI3K-3-dependent factors.
- Dissecting, in primary hepatocytes as a cell-autonomous model, how PI3K-3 controls their production through its transcriptional programmes and organelle and secretory functions.
- Exploring how candidate signals act on peripheral metabolism and feeding, and their value as markers of metabolic dysfunction in disease models and human samples.
You will combine whole-body physiology, multi-omics and cell biology, working with the DC5 researcher, who studies how PI3K-3 acts in the nucleus. The project reveals how a liver nutrient sensor coordinates feeding and distant-organ metabolism, proposing new markers and targets for metabolic disease.
Suggested profile
- A completed Master’s degree, or equivalent, in molecular biology, physiology, metabolism, biochemistry or a related discipline.
- Interest in metabolism, physiology and communication between organs. Previous laboratory or data-analysis experience is expected; experience with animal models or omics data is an advantage. Specialist training will be provided.
- Scientific curiosity, critical thinking, careful research practice and enthusiasm for collaboration across Europe.
Skills you will develop
- Gain hands-on expertise in whole-body metabolic phenotyping, multi-omics and integrative data analysis.
- Formulate hypotheses and design rigorous experiments or analyses.
- Interpret results critically and solve research problems.
- Write scientific papers and present findings clearly.
- Manage projects and collaborate across disciplines and countries.
- Apply research ethics and reproducible methods.
Planned research visits
Research visits to EPFL, Karolinska Institutet, the University of Cambridge and Inserm total approximately 2.5 months. They provide complementary methods, international collaboration and local supervision. See the ChronoBridge “Training & network” page for mobility information.
Allowance
This is a full-time position as a doctoral researcher.
Remuneration follows the recruiting institution’s applicable salary arrangements and MSCA funding requirements.
The grant supports eligible personal and family circumstances. Your employer will explain salary, allowances and deductions.
Eligibility
Candidates of any nationality may apply, provided they:
Do not hold a doctoral degree or have successfully defended a doctoral thesis at recruitment.
Meet the doctoral programme’s admission requirements.
Have not lived or mainly worked or studied in France for more than 12 months during the 36 months immediately before recruitment, subject to defined exceptions.
Have professional English, with evidence assessed by the recruiting institution.
See “Who can Apply?” on the ChronoBridge “How to Apply” page for the detailed criteria and exceptions.
Network training
You will benefit from at least 100 hours of scientific and transferable-skills training, three years of Nature Masterclasses access, network congresses, workshops, online clubs and an individual career-development plan. The programme offers connections with academic, industry and clinical partners. See “Training & network” for the full programme and practical arrangements.