Offre de Post-Doc : SUPRAMOLECULAR CHEMICAL BIOLOGY
What you get:
A 24-months position, starting in January 2026 (flexible), with an annual gross salary of 35 k€.
Who we are:
Université de Montpellier (UM) is a research-intensive university where education and research cover most of the Scientific and Technological fields. UM gathers around 50,000 students, including about 1800 PhD students, and 4800 staff members.
The Institut des Biomolécules Max Mousseron (IBMM, ca. 320 employees, 16 teams) focuses on the chemical synthesis, molecular and supramolecular engineering, and the pharmacological study of biomolecules (e.g. nucleosides/nucleotides/nucleic acids, peptides/proteins, glycosides, lipids), as well as their analogues, derivatives and conjugation products, for health applications. The project will be carried out at the Glycochemistry & Molecular Recognition team (Sébastien ULRICH) in the new Balard building which is equipped with state-of-the-art characterization techniques at UAR PAC Chimie Balard.
Our team is interested in the self-assembly of bioactive entities for the recognition and delivery of drugs (e.g. photosensitizers, nucleic acids) and application in photodynamic therapy (PDT) and RNA-based therapies (Chem. Comm., 2025, 61, 4050-4053; Chem. Sci., 2025, 16, 2413-2419; Org. Biomol. Chem., 2024, 22, 1484-1494; Chem. Eur. J., 2023, 29, 7, e202202921; Chem. Sci., 2022, 13, 909-933; Biomacromolecules, 2022, 23, 1, 431-442; Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2021, 60, 11, 5783-5787; Acc. Chem. Res., 2019, 52, 2, 510-519). In the context of a new ANR-funded project (HiOF, 2026-2030), we will investigate the self-assembly of peptide-aromatic conjugates into fluorescent nanostructures, which growth results from a combination of dynamic covalent and supramolecular processes, moving from solution studies to model lipid membranes, then live cells.
Who we are looking for:
Motivated and enthusiastic PhD chemist with 0-2 years post-PhD experience, a main background in supramolecular chemistry and a keen interest in chemical biology. You will be involved in the synthesis of aromatic and peptide building blocks and their hierarchical self-assembly into supramolecular polymers, first in solution then in more complex biological environments.