Contexte : Prion diseases occur when normal proteins, found on the surface of cells, change conformation and start aggregating in the brain, causing brain damage. This abnormal accumulation of protein in the brain can cause memory impairment, personality changes, difficulties with movement , etc. Recent in vitro experiments on Prion dissemination in neuronal organoids show patterns corresponding to specific spatial distributions of prion fibrils.

Missions : The main objective of this project is to build and study a mathematical model that formalizes the Prion replication/tissue spreading processes into a reaction-diffusion system. A second objective is to quantitatively characterize observed spatial patterns and extract summary statistics from them.

Compétences : The candidate must be enrolled in an M2 program (or equivalent) in Applied Mathematics. A strong interest in mathematical modelling and partial differential equations is advised, as well as basic knowledge of statistics (parameters estimation, hypothesis testing, etc). Programming skills in Python, R or another scientific computing language are also essential.