Year: 2020

20M€ for InnoSkel, a new start-up launched by Elvire Gouze at iBV
20M€ for InnoSkel, a new start-up launched by Elvire Gouze at iBV
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The 'institut de Biologie Valrose' (iBV) is very proud to announce the launch of InnoSkel, a new start-up led by Elvire Gouze, Group Leader at iBV since 2016 (http://ibv.unice.fr/research-team/gouze/).

Elvire is an expert scientist in skeletal disorders. She has made seminal contributions and she has always been highly motivated by studies that have the potential to directly impact human disease. Elvire is also a visionary serial entrepreneur: in 2014 she was the scientific director of TherAchon, a company that develops a cure for achondroplasia that was acquired for $810 millions by the world's premier pharmaceutical company Pfizer in mid 2019. Now, she wants to expand and develop a new pipeline to cure type 2 collagenopathies, the second leading cause of dwarfism worldwide. For this purpose, Elvire just founded InnoSkel, a platform biotech company for which she raised $20M in a Series A financing round. Definitely, Elvire likes to push the limits !

Our vision at iBV is to bridge basic and clinical sciences to foster our understanding of the most important principles of Biology and transfer our knowledge to the clinic. To this goal, iBV has developed an in-house bio-incubator to allow iBV researchers turn their innovative ideas into reality, with Elvire leading the way.

Congratulations Elvire for a successful new venture !

We asked Elvire to tell us about her motivations and say few words about how InnoSkel came to reality?

Elvire: " My research is always patient centred and I am very happy to have been able to develop these research programs within the iBV. Our environment is fostering innovation and I hope this will be followed by numerous biotech company creations that can be hosted in the iBV bioincubator!”

(www.innoskel.com)

Click here to read the press release

 

1 Post-doctoral position _ Starting January 2021
1 Post-doctoral position _ Starting January 2021
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Postdoctoral position in Developmental Neurobiology

Michèle Studer team

A postdoctoral position is available from January 2021 in the “Development and Function of Brain Circuits” team led by M. Studer. We aim to understand how rare genetic variants of key master genes of brain development and circuit assembly can cause neurodevelopmental diseases (NDDs). The project will determine the impact of missense variants identified in the NR2F1 gene on the heterogeneity of neurodevelopmental defects described in affected patients. The postdoc will study genotype/phenotype correlations by using CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing in vivo and decipher the
pathological contribution of representative variants in the mouse system. We expect that the results of this work using experimental systems as well as the identification of Nr2f1 direct targets and interacting partners will help in understanding the phenotypic heterogeneity of patients and unveil pathophysiological mechanisms common to multiple NDDs.

Location

The team is located in the heart of Nice and is part of the Institute of Biology Valrose (27 teams; 300 people; 25 nationalities), an international research centre that brings together high-profile teams with complementary areas of expertise and with a common interest in translating basic research into knowledge for the clinic. The iBV provides state of the art core facilities, with a collaborative and lively atmosphere in a gorgeous city/region. For more information, visit http://ibv.unice.fr/institute/presentation/

Qualification and experience

We are seeking highly motivated young candidates holding a PhD for less than 2 years. Preference will be given to applicants with a background in mouse genetics, cellular and molecular biology, confocal imaging and genome wide approaches. The position is opened for one year renewable up to 3 years (including medical benefits) starting as early as January 2021. Fluency in English is mandatory but ability to speak French is not required.

Applications

Applications should contain a CV, a letter of motivation with a description of research accomplishments (2 pages max) and the contact information of two references able to recommend their research work directly to Michele.STUDER@unice.fr.

Selected related publications :

1. Bertacchi M. et al., EMBO J. 2020 Jun 2. PMID: 32484994
2. Bertacchi M. et al., EMBO Mol Med. 2019 Jul 18. PMID: 31318166
3. Bertacchi M. et al., Review, Brain Res. 2018, Apr 27. PMID: 29709504.
4. Bosch D.G.et al., Am J Hum Genet 2014, Feb 6.. PMID: 24462372