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Research Position in Bone-Marrow Organoids and 3D Imaging: Studying Age and Cellular Senescence

Project 2158 · CNRS · RESTORE, Team 2 FlAMes; collaboration with IMFT

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Save this opportunity and prepare around its actual requirements. Confirm deadlines and eligibility at the original source.

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Country or region
France
Application deadline
2026-11-10 (confirm the exact time with the source)
Funding
TIRIS-funded project; 36-month full-time position; remuneration field lists 2300 with currency, pay period and gross/net basis unspecified; 44 days annual leave and RTT combined; 75% transport reimbursement and sustainable-mobility allowance up to EUR 300 (conditions to confirm). The title and body describe a PhD, but the system classifies the contract as an IT fixed-term contract and lists biological engineer specialising in data analysis as the typical occupation; employment category and doctoral registration require confirmation.

The research opportunity

Research Position in Bone-Marrow Organoids and 3D Imaging: Studying Age and Cellular Senescence

CNRS · RESTORE, Team 2 (FlAMes) · Toulouse · UMR5070-ELZBAS-017

Research work

The TIRIS-funded imHODA project studies how donor age and cellular senescence relate to bone-marrow tissue models. The researcher will generate 3D organoids from bone-marrow mesenchymal stem cells, including age-comparison and senescence conditions; the notice says osteogenic organoids form in seven days. Work includes organoid and tissue characterisation using confocal, two-photon, light-sheet and organoid-focused 3D confocal microscopy, high-content imaging, quantitative RT-qPCR and protein analysis. The project also measures primary-cilium visualisation and length. Expected dissemination includes talks, posters and at least one international peer-reviewed paper.

Applicant and position conditions

The notice lists BAC+5/master level. It gives no specific discipline list, grade threshold, language score or prior-work requirement. Experiments use human-derived cell material and specified chemicals; required training must be completed before authorisation to handle them. Full-time hours are listed as 09:00–12:00 and 13:00–17:00, with some conference or work-meeting travel.

The vacancy describes a 36-month PhD, but the CNRS system classifies it as an IT fixed-term contract and lists “biological engineer specialising in data analysis” as the typical occupation; the mission text also calls it a three-year research internship. The awarding university, doctoral school and legal employment category are not stated. Confirm these before treating the role as a settled salaried doctorate.

Pay and application

The role is TIRIS-funded for 36 months. The remuneration field gives only 2300; currency, pay period and gross/net basis are unspecified. The notice lists 44 days annual leave and RTT combined, 75% transport reimbursement and a sustainable-mobility allowance up to €300, subject to conditions.

The deadline is 10 November 2026 at 23:59; no time zone is printed. The advertised start is 23 November 2026. Apply through the CNRS vacancy page and confirm its required attachments. The short interval also makes overseas hiring, visa and arrival timing important to resolve.

Research and application brief

Report generated: . This date does not confirm that recruitment remains open.

Information updated: . Recheck the original notice before applying.

Show report contents

Research Position in Bone-Marrow Organoids and 3D Imaging: Studying Age and Cellular Senescence

How do donor age and cellular senescence relate to the organisation and function of bone-marrow-related tissue models? The 36-month imHODA role at RESTORE combines cell biology and quantitative three-dimensional imaging with IMFT collaboration. It offers meaningful interdisciplinary training, but its employment and degree status need careful verification: the title and body describe a doctorate, while the system labels an IT fixed-term/biological-data-engineer role and gives remuneration only as 2300. Confirm registration, legal contract and international arrival arrangements before treating it as a fully specified salaried PhD.

The vacancy notice lists a closing date of 10 November 2026 at 23:59, with no printed time zone; the advertised 23 November start leaves little time for overseas formalities. The unresolved employment taxonomy, pay units and unnamed degree-awarding institution cannot be settled by the title alone. These points need confirmation.

Research Problem and Doctoral Work

imHODA examines how age-related differences and cellular senescence relate to the organisation and function of bone-marrow-related tissue models. The advertised WP 1 concerns model generation and molecular characterisation, high-content three-dimensional imaging, and evaluation of primary-cilium structure/function. This is a cell-biology and bioimaging role with interdisciplinary interpretation, not a purely computational data-science doctorate.

At applicant-decision level, the actual work comprises comparing donor-age and senescence conditions, characterising tissue organisation and differentiation, and relating imaging to molecular/protein evidence. Named modalities include confocal, two-photon, light-sheet and dedicated 3D confocal microscopy, quantitative RT-qPCR, protein analysis and the Opera Phenix Plus HCS platform. Primary-cilium visualisation and length assessment are a specific task, not a substitute for the broader tissue/model work. The advert expects talks, posters and at least one international peer-reviewed publication. These are dissemination expectations, not guaranteed accepted papers or a promise of clinical benefit.

The central scientific limitation is model validity: donor variability, model maturity and imaging/analysis effects can all influence apparent age differences. A useful research question is which findings remain consistent across complementary evidence and genuinely describe the biological state rather than model artefacts. This is an analytical interpretation, not an extra advertised work package. Access to human material, consent/ethics, data quality, training and equipment time are practical feasibility questions. No protocol, cell-engineering design or experimental optimisation is supplied here.

School, Field and Doctoral Training Context

CNRS is the recruiting national research organisation. RESTORE is the host joint research unit, UMR 5070 CNRS/UMR 1301 Inserm, with university and other partner affiliations; IMFT is the named collaborating laboratory. These roles do not make CNRS a university degree issuer or establish a joint degree. The vacancy does not name its awarding university or doctoral school. The current Université de Toulouse unit page independently associates RESTORE with its Faculty of Sciences and Engineering, doctoral school Biologie, Santé, Biotechnologies (ED BSB) and EUR CARE; that is a credible local training context, not proof this individual vacancy has an approved registration in that programme. The older University of Toulouse 3 name in the advert should be checked against current institutional registration.

Université de Toulouse reports Shanghai 2026 overall 301–400 worldwide and 11–14 in France. Its highlighted top subjects concern earth sciences, aerospace and other areas; those numbers do not establish biomedical or geroscience strength. A relevant subject-specific numerical rank was not verified. For this opportunity, the concrete evidence is the joint biological/mechanical research environment, actual publications and imaging infrastructure. It does not justify a claim that the individual programme is world-leading.

National admission normally requires a master-level qualification and evidence of research aptitude, with institution-approved exceptions. A formally authorised supervisor, doctoral-school affiliation, a doctoral charter and training agreement, and annual re-enrolment/monitoring are part of the framework. National training includes ethics, integrity, open science and individual scientific/professional development; local hours/credits are unconfirmed. The advertised paid term is 36 months. A standard public-law doctoral contract is also 3 years, but its rules cannot be silently applied while the vacancy is classified IT CDD. Ask which legal employment framework and academic programme will govern this PhD. The university’s current general registration page displays a 30 October 2026 document deadline before the vacancy’s 10 November closing and 23 November hire date. This creates a need for an individual late-registration/start arrangement, not evidence the active job is already closed.

Supervision, Relevant Primary Studies and Research Resources

The advertisement names Pauline Assémat in the IMFT collaboration/supervision. An official 2022 CNRS profile identifies her biomechanical research on bone pathology and multiscale tissue modelling, and the recent primary papers confirm direct authorship. Her current personal IMFT page was not readable; no current professorial title, HDR authorisation, formal thesis-director status or supervision capacity is invented. FlAMes lists Agnès Coste/Nicolas Espagnolle leadership; that does not assign either as this student’s supervisor.

Three directly authored recent studies provide a bounded assessment:

  • Pascal Swider; Yara Abidine; Pauline Assemat. Could Effective Mechanical Properties of Soft Tissues and Biomaterials at Mesoscale be Obtained by Modal Analysis?. Experimental Mechanics 63(6):1055–1065 (2023). DOI 10.1007/s11340-023-00974-7. First published online 23 June 2023, in the July 2023 issue. Assemat is third/last author; Pascal Swider is explicitly corresponding. Swider, Abidine and Assemat combine analysis and measurement to characterise fragile soft tissues and biomaterials, including bone marrow. The primary abstract supports mechanics expertise relevant to tissue-model interpretation; it neither validates the advertised ageing model nor assigns this particular mechanics experiment to the student.
  • Anne Gomez-Mascard; Nathalie Van Acker; Guillaume Cases; Anthony Mancini; Sofia Galanou; François Xavier Frenois; Pierre Brousset; Jérôme Sales de Gauzy; Thibaud Valentin; Marie-Pierre Castex; Cécile Vérité; Sylvie Lorthois; Michel Quintard; Pascal Swider; Marie Faruch; Pauline Assemat. Intratumoral Heterogeneity Assessment of the Extracellular Bone Matrix and Immune Microenvironment in Osteosarcoma Using Digital Imaging to Predict Therapeutic Response. Laboratory Investigation 104(9):102122 (2024). DOI 10.1016/j.labinv.2024.102122. First published online 2 August 2024, in the September 2024 issue. Assemat is sixteenth/last author; corresponding status is unconfirmed and cannot be inferred from author position. The study examines spatial bone-matrix and immune heterogeneity in 18 surgical osteosarcoma specimens. The original-author abstract reports associations with treatment response and shows why spatial averages can conceal variation. This is a small observational cancer series, not a prospective clinical predictor or causal ageing experiment.
  • Roxane Compagnon; Baptiste Brun-Cottan; Pauline Assemat; Julie Vial; Jérôme Sales de Gauzy; Pascal Swider. Diffusion properties of asymptomatic lumbar intervertebral discs in a pediatric cohort: a preliminary study of apparent diffusion coefficient. European Spine Journal 31(11):2943–2949 (2022). DOI 10.1007/s00586-022-07342-4. First published online 8 August 2022, in the November 2022 issue. Assemat is third of six authors, with data-analysis, interpretation and final-manuscript validation contributions; Pascal Swider is corresponding. Quantitative diffusion-MRI observations in 12 asymptomatic adolescents illustrate regional variation and tissue-data interpretation. Adolescent MRI differs from three-dimensional microscopy of ageing organoids, so it does not add an MRI admission requirement.

These are actual primary abstracts/author records, not a claim of full-methods review. HAL author-linked metadata corroborates the bibliography; conference entries and papers on which someone is only a reviewer are not counted as authored journal research. RESTORE’s CERT provides technical-platform and engineer support across imaging, genomics, data analysis and mechanobiology, with TRI/France BioImaging and E-cell France context. Booking capacity, individual training and project-specific budget must still be established. Patent lists or broader group projects do not prove this PhD will lead to a licensed product.

Contract, Fees, Toulouse Budget and International Route

The advertisement states TIRIS funding and 36 months of full-time work, but remuneration is only 2300, without currency, pay period or gross/net qualification. The national public-law doctoral minimum from 1 January 2026 is €2,300 gross per month. The matching number is contextual evidence, not proof that an IT CDD-labelled contract has those terms. If HR confirms €2,300 gross monthly in 12 payments, the annual gross equivalent would be €27,600; net income, tax, social deductions and extra pay remain unknown. The advertised 44 days of leave/RTT, 75% transport reimbursement and sustainable-mobility support up to €300 are conditional benefits, not all cash salary.

The term does not guarantee support beyond 36 months. Confirm research funding, material/equipment access and a completion plan if registration or thesis preparation extends. The general public-law doctoral framework links employment to academic re-registration and permits conditional extensions; first establish which legal contract governs this role.

For 2026/27, the national public-university doctoral registration fee is €398 and CVEC is €105: an annual reference total of €503 unless an applicable exemption or reimbursement is confirmed. Higher differentiated non-EU licence/master fees do not apply to doctorates. Salaried research employment alone does not establish a registration-fee or CVEC waiver; the host’s policy and invoice determine the individual charge.

The government-supported Toulouse housing page lists studios from €228, shared housing from €242 and student transport from €16.70 per month. These are starting offers or eligibility-dependent tariffs, not average rents, guaranteed rooms or a complete employee budget. Use actual rent, food, utilities, communication and transport quotations, with annual fees, deposits, visa and relocation separately. An unconfirmed gross figure cannot establish disposable income or savings.

The advert states no nationality exclusion, but individual hiring and doctoral registration for a China-based applicant still require confirmation. France’s talent-researcher route requires master equivalence, a research purpose and an accredited hosting agreement. Its official CERFA includes doctoral researchers employed under doctoral or other French research contracts; Luxembourg’s separate exclusion of doctoral students from its researcher category must not be transferred here. HR must select the category and provide documents before travel. For stays of at least one year, France’s researcher guidance describes a consular long-stay talent visa followed by a residence-card application; the listed card tax/stamp is €350, with visa and personal costs potentially additional. Neither residence approval nor arrival on 23 November is guaranteed. That start is only 13 days after recruitment closes, making an agreed overseas timeline essential.

Applicant Fit and Preparation

The explicit academic level is BAC+5/master level. The vacancy does not provide an exact discipline list, grade threshold, English/French test score or prescribed prior-work duration. National enrolment separately requires master-equivalent education and research aptitude. Do not turn the surrounding institute’s mathematics, AI or immunology range into a requirement to master all fields. The statement welcoming people recognised as disabled workers does not say the position is reserved exclusively for them.

Evidence of tissue/cell-biology research, quantitative imaging, image/data interpretation and collaborative experimental work is a sensible preparation choice given the actual tasks; these are analytical recommendations unless HR makes them mandatory. A short research-CV account should distinguish personal work from team results and explain data quality, biological variability and collaboration. The advert requires training/authorisation before handling relevant human material and chemicals; it does not establish that applicants must already hold all internal permissions. Ask about French and English working needs rather than assuming an English-only environment.

Career and Field Context

Transferable skills include quantitative bioimaging, reproducible analysis, interdisciplinary research and scientific communication. The ministry’s corrected 2020 cohort tables, observed three years after graduation, report 89.4% employment for life-science PhDs and 54.9% stable employment among those employed. Of employed life-science graduates, 55.8% were in academia and 18.8% in private R&D. These are national, cohort-specific statistics, not RESTORE placements or predictions for Chinese graduates. The revised table and footnote correct an older stability figure still present in the source narrative; the corrected table is used here. An academic path may involve postdoctoral training, and French may affect non-academic opportunities. No personal hiring outcome is established.

Next Actions and Questions to Verify

Before applying: use exact online vacancy UMR5070-ELZBAS-017 and confirm acceptance before the listed 10 November 2026, 23:59 deadline; no timezone is printed. Ask recruitment to reconcile the doctoral title/body with IT CDD/engineer taxonomy, identify the awarding university, doctoral school and authorised director, and specify pay units, attachments and language needs. Arrange a realistic recruitment, hosting, visa and start timetable, including any late-registration exception before relying on 23 November.

At interview: distinguish RESTORE day-to-day research guidance, IMFT collaboration and formal academic supervision. Ask what model/data/image-analysis support exists, how donor variability and model validity are interpreted, and which facilities and training have funded access. Clarify publication ownership and exploratory versus established objectives.

Before accepting: obtain a written employment contract, gross/net estimate, 36-month dates, doctoral admission and registering body, fee/CVEC policy, hosting agreement and residence instructions. Agree a completion plan if the thesis needs more time, and confirm human-material ethics, data access, publication/IP, housing and relocation. The scientific topic merits consideration, but unresolved contract/degree linkage and international-start feasibility prevent unconditional promotion as an already-settled fully funded doctorate.

Evidence and Sources

The recruitment and institutional descriptions retain their stated dates and scope. The three study summaries use primary-author abstracts, ordered bylines, publication metadata and selected accessible body passages; they do not cover complete methods, figures or supplements. Gomez-Mascard author details rely on the indexed byline and an existing HAL record because full-text access was incomplete.

Recruitment, institutions and training

Supervision and recent original studies

Funding, residence, housing and careers

Sources

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