Integrated structural biology of nuclear receptor and nucleoprotein complexes
Organisation / Company Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale (INSERM) Laboratory UMR_S 1258_ Institut de génétique et de biologie moléculaire et cellulaire (IGBMC) Is the Hosting related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure? Yes
Keywords: Nuclear receptors, human ribosome, viruses, nucleoprotein complexes, DNA & RNA complexes, drug complexes, integrated structural biology, biochemistry, cryo electron microscopy, image processing, focused ion beam, cryo electron tomography, crystallography, super-resolution imaging, bioinformatics, R & D, multi-resolution data integration.
Our team uses an integrated structural biology approach to study the structure and function of various macromolecular complexes involved in transcription, translation and other molecular mechanisms involved in diseases, in particular cancer. The aim of the postdoctoral project would be to investigate the structure of full nuclear receptors or other nucleoprotein complexes such as ribosomes or viruses using any of the methods used in the team (see keywords below) and/or participate in the developments of new tools where needed. Nuclear receptors in particular are DNA‑binding proteins that can be activated by binding hormones or other endocrine ligands. The structure of ligand‑binding and DNA‑binding domains is known in some cases, but only few highresolution structures exist for the full‑length assemblies bound to the DNA (comprising direct or inverted DNA repeats); hence, understanding the overall architecture and the detailed molecular interactions in such complexes is a key question to address. Cryo‑EM and new image processing methods are currently making major advances such that relatively small complexes (DNA‑bound NRs are in the 100 kDa range) can be analysed. Other possible projects comprise pushing resolution of ribosome complexes to below 2 Å to resolve RNA chemical modifications and drug substituents, study translation initiation complexes or virus/phage complexes, or study any of these complexes in their cellular context using FIB & cryo electron tomography. Background can be from biology, biochemistry, cell biology, structural biology, medicine, pharmacy, chemistry, physics, mathematics or informatics as the approaches used in the team are highly interdisciplinary and often involve new developments to enable structure‑function analysis of the macromolecular complexes of interest. Latest‑generation instrumentation (FIB, two Titan Krios cryo electron microscopes etc.) is available onsite at the CBI/IGBMC at part of the national and European FRISBI & Instruct‑ERIC infrastructures
Who can apply?
Researchers of any nationality who:
- Have completed a PhD or will complete it at the date of the call deadline (September 2026).
- Have a maximum of 8 years full‑time equivalent experience in research at the time of the call deadline.
- Have not resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in France for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately prior to the call deadline.
Beware that applicants who have applied to the MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship 2025 call and received an evaluation below 80% are not eligible for an application in 2026.
How to apply?
We encourage all motivated and eligible postdoctoral researchers to send their expressions of interest to the supervisor’s e‑mail address before 24th April 2026.
Your application shall include:
- a CV (5 pages max)
- a cover letter outlining your research background and its synergies with the supervisor’s field and/or the proposed research topic.
Estimated timetable:
- Deadline for sending an expression of interest: 24th April 2026
- Selection of the applicant: May 2026 at the latest