Postdoctoral Position in Cancer Biology (M/F)

Laboratory

"Chemical Biology of Cancer" Unit - Director: Fatima Mechta-Grigoriou

Institut Curie -  U1339 Inserm - UMR3666 CNRS

“Stress and Cancer” Laboratory - Director: Fatima Mechta-Grigoriou

https://curie.fr/equipe/mechta-grigoriou

Project funded by European Commission, in the context of the Horizon Europe program, Mission Cancer 2023.

International collaboration between Institut Curie and Assistance Publique Hôpitaux de Paris - Bichat hospital (France), Universidade Catolica Portugueasa (Portugal), University of Rome TorVergata and Humanitas University in Milan (Italy).

Coordinated by Dr Maria Carla Parrini.

https://www.arturoproject.eu

Title: Assessing the role of intratumoral microbiota in therapy responses using patient-derived tumor-on-chip

Acronym: ARTURO

Resistance to therapies is a major challenge in oncology. Recent research suggests that intratumoral microbiota may contribute to anti-cancer drug resistance, in particular to immunotherapies. Indeed, tumors are colonized by numerous microorganisms, bacteria, viruses, fungi, which should be considered as novel important players of the tumor ecosystems. However, experimental approaches to address the role of microbiota in human cancers are lacking. This problem will be tackled by using an innovative state-of-the-art 3D tumor-on-chip (ToC) model, as part of the emerging field of Micro-Physiological Systems (MPS).  

Project ARTURO aims to decipher the role of patient-derived bacteria, and of their postbiotics and released extra-cellular vesicles, in tumor ecosystem behaviors and drug responses, by integrating clinical data, omics analysis, and novel ToC-based information (live imaging and single-cell transcriptomics). The focus will be on two frequent poorly-understood cancer subtypes: non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and invasive lobular breast cancer (ILC).

In this context, the team “Stress and Cancer” is opening a postdoctoral position. The applicant is expected to participate the activities of the project ARTURO with the following responsibilities: i) isolation of primary autologous cells from fresh tumor samples (cancer and immune cells, cancer-associated fibroblasts); ii) generation of patient-derived ToC integrating newly identified tumor-resident bacteria; iii) drug treatments of ToC and analysis (cell imaging, transcriptomics); iv) liaison with collaborators, clinicians, computer scientists, and platforms.    

Project results are expected to provide a deep understanding of processes underlying tumor-host interactions and to help the conception of novel microbiota-based intervention strategies.

Our recent relevant publications:

1. Bioengineering a patient-derived vascularized lung tumor-on-chip model to decipher immunomodulation by the endothelium. Lansche & Ladaigue et al, Adv Healthc Mater. 2025 May 9:e2403446. doi: 10.1002/adhm.202403446.

2. Assessing personalized responses to anti-PD-1 treatment using patient-derived lung tumor-on-chip. Veith & Nurmik et al, Cell Rep Med 2024, May 21;5(5):101549. doi: 10.1016/j.xcrm.2024.101549.

3. Sensitizing cancer cells to immune checkpoint inhibitors by microbiota-mediated upregulation of HLA class I. Ferrari et al, Cancer Cell 2023, Oct 9;41(10):1717-1730.e4. doi: 10.1016/j.ccell.2023.08.014. Epub 2023 Sep 21.