PhD Position (M/F) on Biosignature Research for Space Missions

Descrizione

PhD Position (M/F) on Biosignature Research for Space Missions Sintesi in italiano (traduzione automatica): Il candidato per il dottorato sarà supervisionato da un team di esperti e lavorerà presso l'Institut Origines a Marsiglia. Le principali mansioni includono la coltivazione di microorganismi, analisi chimiche e l'elaborazione dei dati in un ambiente interdisciplinare. Il progetto si concentra sull'analisi di microorganismi estremofili in condizioni simulate dell'oceano interno di Encelado, con l'obiettivo di identificare indicatori chimici di attività biologica in ambienti extraterrestri. È richiesta una laurea in biologia, biotecnologie o discipline affini. Il candidato dovrà anche condurre una revisione della letteratura e adattare protocolli analitici per identificare biomarcatori specifici, contribuendo così alla ricerca sulle missioni spaziali e alla comprensione delle condizioni per la vita al di fuori della Terra. The PhD candidate will be supervised by Prof. G. Erauso (MIO) and co-supervised by Prof. G. Danger (PIIM, Marseille), with Dr. A. Bouquet and Dr. V. Grossi serving as co-supervisors. Experiments will be conducted in close collaboration with Dr. A. Carios and Dr. S. Marre (ICBM, Bordeaux). The candidate will work in an interdisciplinary environment requiring a high degree of autonomy and significant commitment to the tasks at hand, which include sample cultivation, chemical analysis, and the associated data processing. This project takes place within a particularly rich research environment as part of the *Institut Origines* in Marseille, which brings together research units focused on the origins of life and astrobiology. This project aims to subject terrestrial extremophilic microorganisms to conditions mimicking the internal ocean of Enceladus (a moon of Saturn), observe their development under these conditions, and determine—using advanced analytical chemistry techniques—what detectable effects they have on the chemistry of their environment. This work will expand the known repertoire of chemical indicators suggesting biological activity in extraterrestrial settings and establish the analytical procedures required to identify and distinguish these indicators from abiotic signatures in chemically rich environments. Mission and Objectives The PhD candidate will be responsible for mastering microorganism cultivation protocols and adapting them to conduct new experiments under hyperbaric conditions (combining hydrostatic pressure with gas partial pressures: H2:CO2 as substrate and CH4 as product). During these experiments, the candidate will monitor the exometabolome, proteome/transcriptome, and lipidome to identify potential changes—driven by environmental variations—in gene expression, protein production, metabolites released into the medium, and membrane lipid composition. Once this profile has been established, the final phase of the project will involve identifying specific molecular targets to serve as biomarkers for the strain. After these targets are defined, new experiments will be conducted with increasingly complex abiotic chemical inputs. This phase of the project will require an in-depth literature review regarding the geochemical conditions of the simulated bodies, primarily Enceladus. Once these new environmental conditions are defined, the candidate will evaluate the suitability of the initial analytical protocols for identifying the selected biomarkers and determine whether the protocols need to be modified. The ultimate goal of the thesis will be to determine the analytical limits for detecting the presence of life in a given environment and to extrapolate these findings to the chemical analysis conditions of space missions—whether involving sample returns or in situ analysis, as the challenges involved differ in each case. Annuncio in inglese. Fonte: Euraxess (Commissione europea).