Dear colleagues, Our newly created group COMPO (COMPutational pharmacology in clinical Oncology, Marseille, France) is seeking a highly motivated individual with skills in quantitative modeling, pharmacometrics and data science for a postdoc position on a very exciting project dealing with modeling high-dimensional, longitudinal and biologically meaningful data of response to immune-checkpoint inhibition in lung cancer treatment. Details are given below and on the online application website at the following link: https://jobs.inria.fr/public/classic/fr/offres/2020-02873 Please do not hesitate to forward to any interested person and contact me for further details and application. Context The postdoc position will take place in the environment of a newly created Inria-Inserm team COMPO (COMputational Pharmacology in Oncology), located in the University Hospital of Marseille. This team is composed of mathematicians, pharmacists and clinicians and is a unique multidisciplinary environment focused on developing novel computational tools for decision- making in clinical oncology.
Specifically, the project is funded by the french National Cancer Institute (INCa) and will consist in developing mechanistic models of the response to immune-checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) with access to unique, large-scale (~450 patients), longitudinal and multi-modal biological data generated by the PIONeeR consortium clinical study (RHU program). It will involve strong interactions with clinicians from APHM and biologists, from academy (CIML and CRCM in Marseille) as well as biotech start-ups (e.g. HalioDX) and pharma companies (InnatePharma, Imcheck therapeutics). Participation to major international conferences (e.g. AACR, ASCO) will be covered. Missions With the help of experts in mathematical modeling in oncology, clinical pharmacology and clinical oncology, the recruited person will be in charge to develop and validate biologically-based models of the response to ICI in non-small cell lung cancer. To this end, large data sets containing multi-modal longitudinal data from immuno-histochemistry, imaging, pharmacokinetics, immunoprofiling, soluble biomarkers and sequencing data (including circulating DNA) will be used. The models will be based on the current knowledge in the field of immuno-oncology. Advanced statistical learning methods combining machine learning techniques and mixed-effect models will be employed for calibration of the models and confrontation with the data. For a better knowledge of the proposed research subject : See the website of the PIONEER project: https://marseille-immunopole.org/the- pioneer-project/ recrutement. For relevant previous publications, see: http://benzekry.perso.math.cnrs.fr/recherche.html Collaboration : The recruited person will work under the supervision of S. Benzekry and will collaborate with pharmacists and pharmacometricians (Pr J. Ciccolini, COMPO), biotech companies (HalioDX), as well as clinical oncologists from thoracic oncology (Pr L. Greillier, AP-HM, Marseille). Main activities: • Review of the biological and clinical literature (immuno-oncology) • Data analysis and visualization • Mechanistic modeling • Programming • Model calibration • Statistical learning • Development of predictive tools Technical skills and level researched : • Excellent programing skills (python, R or Matlab) • Familiarity with real-world data analysis • Statistics (ideally, experience in mixed-effects modeling) • Mechanistic modeling (differential equations) • Basic knowledge of cancer biology or medicine a plus Languages : Proficient in English. Good relational skills and ability to work and communicate in an interdisciplinary environment are required. Advantages • Subsidized meals • Partial reimbursement of public transport costs • Leave: 7 weeks of annual leave + 10 extra days off due to RTT (statutory reduction in working hours) + possibility of exceptional leave (sick children, moving home, etc.) • Possibility of teleworking (after 6 months of employment) and flexible organization of working hours • Professional equipment available (videoconferencing, loan of computer equipment, etc.) • Social, cultural and sports events and activities • Access to vocational training • Social security coverage Gross Salary: 2653 € per month ———— Sebastien Benzekry, PhD Head of the Inria-Inserm team COMPO http://benzekry.perso.math.cnrs.fr/
