Postdoc position 'Psychedelics in animal models of alcohol addiction'

KEY WORDS

CITY

COUNTRY

France

DETAILS OF THE OFFER

Working place: Groupe de Recherche sur l'Alcool et les Pharmacodépendances - GRAP - Unité INSERM U1247, Université de Picardie Jules Verne, Centre de Recherche Universitaire en Santé, CHU Amiens Picardie. Research building with 8 research units and 3 platforms (animal facility, animal 7T-MRI, Cellular imaging and protein analysis)

Missions:

Psychedelics are promising treatments of alcohol addiction and several clinical trials are ongoing worldwide and in France. Psilocybin and LSD are the most studied treatments but the mechanisms involved in their effectiveness in alcohol addiction remain poorly understood at the behavioral, cellular and molecular levels. At the cellular level, the receptors that are targeted by psychedelics form heterodimers and thus this potential mechanism of action will be investigated.

As part of the 3 "Psychedelics" ongoing projects in our lab, the goals are to better understand the 1/ behavioral mechanisms underlying the effectiveness on alcohol operant self-administration, motivation and relapse; 2/ neurobiological mechanisms involved using different in vivo techniques such as 7T-MRI (structural and functional connectivity), fast-scan cyclic voltammetry (FSCV) and calcium imaging; 3/ molecular mechanisms using different techniques such as immunohistochemistry, autoradiography, proximity ligation assay (PLA), candidate genes expression with RT-qPCR micro-arrays.

Primary Mission: Within the framework of the Psychedelics projects, the postdoctoral researcher will be responsible for in vivo experiments and ex vivo analyses.

Secondary Mission: Additionally, the candidate will be involved in supervising MASTER students working on the "Psychedelics" projects.

Activities: Running operant self-administration procedure and in vivo longitudinal experiments using MRI or FSCV or calcium imaging. Ex vivo genes/proteins expression. Pharmacological experiments.

Qualifications:

• PhD level
• Training in Neuroscience and pharmacology
• Animal Behavior
• Stereotaxics
• Viral infections (DREAADS, calcium imaging)
• Immunohistochemistry; Molecular analysis (Rt-qPCR) and Biochemistry (Western blot, ELISA...)
• Authorization to experiment on animals and Surgical Training

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