postdoctoral position is available at the Cochin Institute (www.institutcohin.fr) in Paris / France, under the supervision of Dr Yonatan Ganor, in the laboratory of
‘mucosal entry, persistence and neuro-immune control of HIV-1 and other viruses’.
The project aims to study how peripheral neurons, via their secreted neuropeptides,
control HSV-2/HIV-1 co-infection.

Among sexually-transmitted infections, herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) is the largest contributor to increased acquisition of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) during co-infection. We discovered that calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP), a mucosal neuropeptide secreted by peripheral pain neurons termed nociceptors that innervate all genital tissues, strongly inhibits infection of Langerhans cells (LCs; resident antigen-presenting cells in stratified epithelia) with HIV-1 and HSV-2, revealing for the first time the unexpected anti-viral roles of CGRP. Recently, we developed the ‘mucosa-on-chip’ microfluidic model that combines CGRP-secreting nociceptor neurons with genital epithelial cells and LCs. In this model, infected LCs relay HSV-2 to nociceptor axons, resulting in axonal degeneration and reduction in CGRP content.

Project:
We are seeking a post-doctoral fellow to explore the anti-viral roles of CGRP during HSV-2/HIV-1 co-infection using the ‘mucosa-on-chip’ model, which mimics the complex in-vivo neuroimmune landscape of mucosal tissues. The main objective of the selected candidate will be to prove that an unrecognized mechanism, by which HSV-2 increases HIV-1 acquisition during co-infection, involves HSV-2-mediated dysregulation of mucosal CGRP secretion, thereby counteracting the protective anti-HIV-1 actions of CGRP.

A 36 months postdoctoral fellowship is available from the French National Agency for Scientific Research (ANRS), starting immediately and latest during June 2025.