Junior Research Scientist on the role of lipids in the balance between functions in ruminants

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INRAE presentation

The French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food, and the Environment (INRAE) is a public research establishment under the dual authority of the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Research.

INRAE is recruiting researchers by open competition and offering permanent position.

It is a major player in research and innovation created on 1^st of January 2020. INRAE is a research institute resulting from the merger of INRA and IRSTEA. It is a community of 12,000 people with more than 200 research units and 42 experimental units located throughout France.

The institute is among the world leaders in agricultural and food sciences, in plant and animal sciences, and is 11^th in the world in ecology and environment. INRAE’s main goal is to be a key player in the transitions necessary to address major global challenges. In the face of the increase in population, climate change, scarcity of resources and decline in biodiversity, the institute develops solutions for multiperformance agriculture, high quality food and sustainable management of resources and ecosystems.

Work environment, missions and activities

The Herbivores Joint Research Unit (UMR), located near Clermont-Ferrand, conducts research into economically and environmentally efficient herbivore farming, making the most of forage and other resources not used for human consumption. As part of this joint research unit, you will join the "Biomarkers of performance, adaptation and quality" team, which is made up of around twenty permanent staff from INRAE and Bordeaux ScienceAgro. The team's aim is to identify the metabolic and physiological mechanisms controlling the plasticity of tissues that determine ruminant production, efficiency and adaptive responses, and to design tools for phenotyping production traits and product quality.
Your project will aim to identify and analyse lipids or their derivatives in the biological fluids of ruminants and to analyse their biological actions involved in the regulation of metabolism and physiology. The originality of the project lies in the identification of lipid species as phenotyping tools in order to control the resilience and performance of cattle breeds under sustainable breeding conditions.

First, you will analyse the lipidome of biological fluids (plasma and milk) from animals subjected to nutritional practices that induce metabolic adaptations or changes in performance.
Secondly, on the basis of the lipid species that you will have identified, you will characterise their biological roles, their metabolism and their potential oxidation products with the aim of identifying biomarkers that can be analysed and quantified to understand or predict phenotypes of interest.
Thirdly, you will test the relevance of these biomarkers using samples from experimental systems aimed at developing more agro-ecological farming practices. In the long term, the expected outcomes are the modulation of metabolisms and the phenotyping of the most efficient, effective and resilient animals, in a context of improving the use of resources and the sustainability of ruminant production.

Our research team tells you more about your future job

Training and skills

PhD level in animal sciences or equivalent.
Skills in animal physiology are required, if possible with an emphasis on lipid biology. An interest in working with farmed ruminants is required. If you do not already have experience in animal experimentation, you will need to be trained to enable you to conduct animal experiments. The ability to work in a team and interact with zootechnicians, physiologists and bioinformaticians will be highly valued.
Fluency in written and spoken English is highly desirable, as is long-term international experience: successful candidates who have not already had such experience will be required to spend time abroad at the end of the internship year.

INRAE's life quality

By joining our teams, you benefit from:

- 30 days of annual leave + 15 days "Reduction of Working Time" (for a full time);
- parenting support: CESU childcare, leisure services;
- skills development systems: training, career advise;
- social support: advice and listening, social assistance and loans;
- holiday and leisure services: holiday vouchers, accommodation at preferential rates;
- sports and cultural activities;
- collective catering.

For international scientists: please visit your guide to facilitate your arrival and stay at INRAE.