PhD Opportunities in Biology in France

This PhD project explores how systemic inflammation during sepsis can alter brain function through glial activation and changes in monoamine metabolism. The work is centered on a neurobiological mechanism linking neuroinflammation, the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR), and the UDP-glucuronosyltransferase UGT1A6a in astrocytes. The advertised research builds on preliminary evidence that glial cells can glucuronidate morphine, that LPS increases this activity in vitro and in vivo, and that this eff...

This doctoral project is hosted at the Institute of Integrative Biology of the Cell (I2BC) on the CNRS campus at Gif-sur-Yvette, within a collaborative research network involving IJPB-INRAE (Versailles) and IGEPP-INRAE (Rennes) . The thesis focuses on how modifying vacuolar nitrate storage can alter nitrogen use efficiency , water use efficiency , and tolerance to water stress in Arabidopsis thaliana . The work centers on the nitrate transporter CLCa and asks how changing nitrate storage in diff...

This PhD project, STILANTIBIO (“How Do Plant Polyphenolic Stilbenoids Act as Antimicrobial Agents?”), explores how plant-derived stilbenoids act against microbes through a combined approach in chemistry, chemical biology, microbiology, and bioinformatics. The doctoral research is part of a collaborative programme with the Institut de Chimie & Biologie des Membranes et des Nano-objets (CBMN) and the Centre de BioInformatique de Bordeaux (CBiB) . The student will work on the design and synthesis o...

This doctoral project focuses on deep generative models for the joint analysis of biological tissue images and spatial molecular measurements . The student will develop new deep learning methods designed to connect image data with spatially resolved molecular information, with the goal of addressing biological questions in collaboration with partner research teams. The research is based in Auguste Genovesio’s team , which works on image analysis and artificial intelligence at IBENS, ENS-PSL , an...

This PhD project focuses on ultrafast electronic rearrangement and relaxation in biomolecules after photoabsorption. The student will investigate how several competing pathways, including very fast femtosecond charge-transfer and local electronic relaxation processes, unfold in complex molecular systems. The research uses a novel strategy based on Auger electrons emitted from a metallic site embedded in a porphyrin derivative. This local probe is used to follow the photoinduced electronic reorga...

This doctoral project is part of the ANR PALWOOD programme (2026–2030), which investigates the evolution of wood during the Paleozoic, from the first appearance of wood in the early Devonian to the end-Permian crisis. The project brings together researchers from multiple French research units, including AMAP (Montpellier), CR2P (Paris) and EEP (Lille), with international collaborators. The thesis focuses on the anatomical disparity of homoxylous woods , i.e. woods without vessels. The doctoral r...

The doctoral project is part of the interdisciplinary AcrioFarm research on overdoses, within the CNRS PRIME team directed by Marie Jauffret-Roustide . It focuses on the experience of opioids among users, with particular attention to access to care and harm reduction in a context marked by the spread of synthetic opioids and rising overdose rates. The thesis will examine users’ preferences for natural and synthetic opioids, their experiences of treatment and harm reduction services, and the prev...

This PhD project is about inverse problems for biomedical images , with a specific focus on mammography and breast cancer risk assessment . The research aims to improve the analysis of X-ray mammograms by developing denoising methods that preserve the fine structural properties of mammographic textures, especially the self-similarity and fractal characteristics that can reveal patterns linked to cancer risk. The thesis is rooted in the challenge that risk-related parenchymal patterns can be diff...

This PhD project investigates the mechanisms, dynamics, and impact of neuromodulation in the olfactory cortex , with a particular focus on cholinergic and GABAergic projections from the basal forebrain . The student will study how these neuromodulatory signals shape olfactory cortical processing during behavior. The research will rely mainly on fiber photometry and optogenetic stimulation in mice performing olfactory behavioral tasks . The project is designed to connect circuit-level activity wi...