PhD position - Multimodal characterization of therapeutic phages

OPPORTUNITY DETAILS

Total reward

0 $

State University

CEA Tech

Area

Western Europe

Host Country

France

Deadline

31 Oct 2021

Study level

Doctoral Degree

Opportunity type

PhD

Specialities

Biology

Opportunity funding

Not funding

Eligible Countries

This opportunity is destined for all countries

Eligible Region

All Regions

SL-DRT-21-0634

RESEARCH FIELD

Health and environment technologies, medical devices

ABSTRACT

The rapid inexorable spread of antibiotic resistance is one of the critical challenges in health care for the coming decade. Patients increasingly encounter dead-ends, with no effective molecule. The quest for alternatives to antibiotic therapy is a major public health issue and should, according to the WHO, be given priority status. Phage therapy uses viruses known as bacteriophages, or “phages” for short, that specifically infect and destroy bacteria without impact on human cells. They have been used for decades in some countries in Eastern Europe, but preparations from these countries cannot be imported in France or Western European countries as they fail to meet standard drug agency criteria (ANSM, EMEA).Some new techniques have to be developed and optimized for a better and faster characterization of these therapeutic viruses, during their amplification and purification, as well as during their storage or juste before dispensing medication. The study deals with innovative approaches based on microelectronics and nanotechnologies for rapid in-vitro quantification and characterization of therapeutic phages to facilitate selection of phages and QCs of phage therapeutic products: (i) a lensless imaging technique for fast phage titration based on the monitoring of lysis plaques (from 20-µm- to millimeter-size) over a wide field-of-view (up to at least 864 mm2), suited to continuous detection of phage plaque growth, (ii) a microsystem called SNR (Suspended Nanochannel Resonator) for phage purity assessment without culture/replication requirement based on rapid mass measurement of individual virions.