PhD position (M/F) for the development of synthetic nucleic acids working in non-conventional solvents
February 16, 2023
January 27, 2023
February 16, 2023
Aptamers (i.e., single stranded nucleic acids adopting a 3D structure allowing them to specifically interact with a target molecule) and ribozymes (nucleic acids endowed with a catalytic function) represent a class of nucleic with growing interest in bioengineering, biomedical and even industrial fields. Lots of such natural and synthetic nucleic acids have been described over the past decades, all being usually functional in water-based environment. In this project, we will explore a new generation of aptamers and ribozymes adapted to work in non-conventional solvents where water will be exchanged for ionic liquids. To reach this goal, mutant libraries will be functionally screened using droplet-based microfluidics, a technology routinely used by the team. This technology consists in encapsulating biological reactions (e.g., PCR amplification, in vitro transcription, enzyme activity assay…) within picoliter (10E-12 liter) volume water-in-oil droplets produced and manipulated at rates of several thousand per second. All these manipulations are usually performed in water-based media, but one can anticipate that exchanging water for a non-conventional solvent should impact liquid behavior, so the ability to control droplet production and circulation with the devices. Therefore, a first step of the PhD work will consist in adjusting the design of the microfluidic devices to optimize the production and the manipulation of non-aqueous droplets. Then, these devices will be exploited to isolate optimized aptamers/ribozymes and identify most interesting molecules through sequence analysis (high-throughput sequencing in tandem with bioinformatics). Upon characterization, the newly isolated molecules will be transfer to partners where they will serve for various industrial applications.
For more details and to apply, go to CNRS job portal.
Documents to accompany your application
See the announcement on the CNRS website.
Contact information
Pr M. Ryckelynckm.ryckelynck@unistra.fr