Identifying imaging signature and neurotransmitter dynamics of neuromodulatory interventions in chronic pain

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Key Words pain, imaging, neuroscience

Details of the offer

Working place:  Institute of Cellular and Integrative Neurosciences (INCI, CNRS, Strasbourg)

Missions:

This PhD position is supported by the Frontier Research Competences for Neuro-modulation and Oscillations in Pain (FRESCO4NoPain), an EU-funded Doctoral Network (DN) under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA). This program aims to provide a multidisciplinary training program for young researchers (PhD candidates) to explore innovative therapeutic strategies for the treatment of chronic pain. The program focuses on using cutting-edge, non-invasive techniques for neuro-modulation and the study of brain oscillations to better understand and manage chronic pain. in This particular PhD thesis will be focused on identifying imaging signature and neurotransmitter dynamics of neuromodulatory interventions in chronic pain.

Chronic pain affects approximately one in five individuals, representing a substantial economic and societal burden, often accompanied by emotional disorders. Despite its widespread impact, only a limited number of treatments have shown significant therapeutic efficacy. Dr. Ipek YALCIN’s laboratory, where this PhD project will primarily take place, has developed a murine model of neuropathic pain that induces an anxious-depressive phenotype (cf. Yalcin et al., 2011; Barthas et al., 2015, 2017; Sellmeijer et al., 2018).

This PhD thesis will focus on identifying the imaging signatures and neurotransmitter dynamics of neuromodulatory interventions in chronic pain. The candidate will be responsible of characterizing the structural and functional changes in brain circuits involved in the genesis of chronic pain and its comorbid anxiety-depressive consequences, using a murine neuropathic pain model. This project will provide the candidate with strong expertise in brain circuits’ neurophysiology and advanced technical skills, including MRI imaging, stereotaxic surgery, fiber photometry, optogenetics, and rodent behavior analysis.

The candidate will be primarily based at the Institute of Cellular and Integrative Neurosciences (INCI, CNRS, Strasbourg), working within the “Pain and Psychopathology” team under the direction of Dr. Ipek YALCIN. Additionally, they will complete secondment at the Technical University of Munich, Germany (academic partner) with Dr. Markus Plnoer and a secondment at the National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research, United Kingdom (NC3Rs) (non-academic partner).

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Type of job

Type of contract CDD

Application deadline

Employment start date 01/09/2025

Contact

Applicants must NOT have lived or carried out their main activity France for more than 12 months in the past 3 years immediately prior to the application deadline.

All the application should be done using CNRS platform.