Post-Doc fellowship in Development of a Preliminary Evaluation Framework for Precision Medicine- 12 months fixed-term contract

JOB ENVIRONMENT:

Institut Mines-Télécom is the leading public group of engineering and management Grandes Écoles in France. Consisting of eight public graduate Grandes Écoles and two subsidiary graduate schools, Institut Mines-Télécom leads and develops a rich ecosystem of partner schools, economic, academic and institutional partners, key players in education, research and economic development.

Mines Saint-Étienne, a graduate school of the Institut Mines-Télécom, is responsible for education, research, innovation, industrial transfer and scientific culture dissemination. With 2,500 students, 500 staff and a budget of €50m, it has 3 campuses dedicated to the industry of the future, health and well-being, and digital sovereignty and microelectronics. It is ranked in the top 15 graduate engineering schools in France and the top 500 universities worldwide.

The 2023-2027 strategy of Mines Saint-Etienne is in line with that of Institut Mines Telecom. It aims to:

·         Support the ecological, digital and generational transitions and educate the people involved

·         Support national and European sovereignty in microelectronics and digital technologies.

To support this strategy, it is recruiting a postdoctoral researcher in the field of Industrial engineering/Performance evaluation in Health.

JOB DESCRIPTION:

Since its creation in 2004, the Center for Biomedical and Healthcare Engineering has exemplified Mines Saint-Etienne's ability to establish itself as a leader in innovative fields related to surface and biological tissue engineering, healthcare systems and services engineering, the biological activity of inhaled particles, and biomaterials. It brings together 90 people, including 20 research professors, 20 engineers, technicians, and administrative staff, as well as 50 PhD students, postdoctoral researchers, and interns.

The Healthcare Systems and Services Engineering Department (I4S) is a team of 15 researchers recognized for their excellence in operational research and industrial engineering. They specialize in the study of healthcare systems and health data in collaboration with a vast network of hospital and industry partners.

The position takes part in the European project GALActIC (Galectin-3 targeted antifungal prophylaxis in ICU influenza). The overall project is a collaboration between five European universities, including KU Leuven (Belgium), Medical University of Graz (Austria), Radboud UMC Nijmegen (The Netherlands), University of Braga (Portugal) and Mines Saint-Etienne (France).

Invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA) is a fungal infection that typically affects people who are severely immunocompromised. During the last decade, IPA has increasingly been reported in immunocompetent but critically ill patients, such as those with a severe influenza respiratory infection. This fungal superinfection is referred to as influenza-associated pulmonary aspergillosis (IAPA) and occurs in up to 20% of critically ill influenza patients. Despite antifungal treatment, IAPA has an associated mortality of approximately 50%, which is 2-fold higher compared to severe influenza patients without aspergillosis.

One of the main reasons for the high mortality rate of IAPA is the challenging diagnosis of the fungal infection and, consequently, the lack of or delayed implementation of antifungal therapy. Universal antifungal prophylaxis administered to all critically ill influenza patients showed some benefit by reducing IAPA by about 50%, but this difference failed to reach statistical significance, indicating that more targeted approaches to antifungal prophylaxis focusing on subpopulations at highest risk for IAPA are needed. Hence, rapid identification of patients at risk to develop IAPA is urgently needed to allow patient stratification for personalized treatment.

The overall aim of GALActIC is to validate the role of a biomarker (i.e., galectin-3) as a genetic host risk factor for IAPA in severe influenza patients and to translate this knowledge into the design of a personalized care pathway using the biomarker to stratify critically ill Influenza patients for antifungal prophylaxis.

Your role in this project in the team Mines Saint-Etienne will be to contribute to the design and evaluation of a personalized care pathway based on the detection of the biomarker for IAPA patients. From a methodological point of view, the approach is innovative, as it intends to provide an a-priori evaluation of the care pathway, to guide the design of a future large-scale clinical trial. Exploiting clinical data, the aim is to develop a framework to simulate and evaluate the performance associated with three organizations of care:

è  Standard of care management for critically ill influenza patients

è  Universal prophylaxis, where antifungal treatment is administered to all critically ill influenza patients

è  Targeted prophylaxis therapy based on the detection of the biomarker

Reporting to the Center for Biomedical and Healthcare Engineering (CIS), your main tasks will be:

·         Analyzing & modeling clinical data

·         Developing a methodological framework based on a discrete event simulation (DES) model

·         Calibrating the model using quantitative data and insights from a literature review and discussion with international experts

·         Collaborating with an international and multi-disciplinary consortium of experts within the GALActIC project

·         Conducting sensitivity analyses

·         Contributing to scientific article writing

·         Presenting your research at international conferences

Tasks may change depending on the needs of the department and Mines Saint-Etienne.

The position is based on the Saint-Étienne campus.

PROFIL SOUGHT:

You are in one of the following situations:

·         PhD in Industrial Engineering

·         PhD in Data Science

·         PhD in Health Evaluation (Quantitative)

And ideally:

·         Experience in applications related to the healthcare sector

You have the following skills, knowledge and experience:

·         Strong expertise in data analysis (Statistics, Econometrics, Machine Learning)

·         Process modeling & simulation (Discrete-Event Simulation)

·         Experienced in healthcare assessment

·         Scientific dissemination (scientific article writing, presentations)

·         Ability to work in a multidisciplinary environment

You recognise yourself in the following abilities and skills:

·         Effective communication

·         Organization

·         Autonomy

WHY JOIN US:

Institut Mines-Telecom is characterised by:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m39m6hdNC48

• A scientific environment of excellence

• A group with entities throughout France

Mines Saint-Etienne is distinguished by:

• A privileged working environment with a high student supervision rate and a high environment rate (support and back-up functions)

• First-rate experimental and digital resources

• Significant contract research activity (€11m/year in Research and Innovation contracts), mainly with industrial partners

• 25% international students, Member of the T.I.M.E. network and the EULIST European University

• A centre for scientific, technical and industrial culture - La Rotonde - which is unique in France, and which has a major impact on society (> 50,000 visitors per year)

• Pleasant workplace, easily accessible by public transport and close to motorways

• Public transport costs reimbursed up to 75% (subject to conditions)

• Sustainable mobility package

• Staff committee that subsidises sports, leisure, cultural and social events and activities

• The possibility of partial remote working

• 49 days annual leave

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

Recruitment conditions:

• Fixed-term contract for a period of 12 months

• Desired start date: 1st september 2025

• Remuneration will be set according to the candidate's profile, based on the rules defined by the Institut Mines Télécom's management framework

• Full time

• Position based in Saint-Étienne

• For internal use:
  > Category II - Job P - Post doctorant according to the Management Framework

The position is open to all, with accommodation available on request for candidates with disabilities. The job is open to civil servants and/or the general public.
All applications may be subject to an administrative enquiry.

How to apply:

Applications (CV, covering letter, letter of recommendation if applicable) must be submitted on the RECRUITEE platform no later than 15/06/2025.

https://institutminestelecom.recruitee.com/o/post-doc-fellowship-in-mdevelopment-of-a-preliminary-evaluation-framework-for-precision-medicine-12-months-fixed-term-contract

Candidates selected based on their application will be interviewed on 24/06/2025 in Saint-Etienne, or online for international candidates.

As part of its Equality, Diversity and Inclusion policy, École des Mines de Saint Etienne is an employer that is committed to fair treatment of all applicants.

For more information:

For further information about the position, please contact:

Marius HUGUET - Associate Professor

Email: marius.huguet@emse.fr
Tel.: +33 (0)477420297

For all administrative information, please contact:

Milica PETKOVIC– HR Administrator

Email: milica.petkovic@emse.fr
Tel: + 33 (0)4 77 42 02 08 

Useful links:

https://www.mines-stetienne.fr/

https://www.imt.fr/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUeuC5iQiN0

Data protection :

https://www.mines-stetienne.fr/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Informations-des-candidats-sur-les-traitements-de-donn%C3%A9es-personnelles.pdf