Designation/Position- PhD Position
About- Université de Lorraine promotes innovation through the dialogue of knowledge, taking advantage of the variety and strength of its scientific fields, and aiming at the promotion of knowledge transfer to irrigate innovation and economic growth as well as the progress of fundamental science.
Being the university of a whole region, Université de Lorraine is a major actor of its economic and social development, building on intercultural and intergeneration links, coordinating a regional research policy, and giving access to higher education to as many inhabitants as possible.
Université de Lorraine offers curricula in all fields of knowledge: sciences, health, technology, engineering sciences, human and social sciences, law, economy, management, arts, literature and language. A specific focus is given to crossovers between fields and skills, to help students develop their own pathway.
Project Title- Electrochemistry: design of living electrocatalytic materials for biomolecules and biohydrogen production
Location- CNRS and Université de Lorraine, France
Eligibility/Qualification- The applicant must have a master’s degree in chemistry with a specialization in physical chemistry. Some knowledge of electrochemistry will be appreciated. Some experience in microbiology would be a plus.
REQUIRED EDUCATION LEVEL- Chemistry: Master Degree or equivalent
REQUIRED LANGUAGES- ENGLISH: Good
Job/Position Description- There is now a keen interest in biocathodic reactions that involve a biological catalyst in the form of biofilm. While the scientific literature in this field of research has so far been very focused on a few species, eg Shewanella oneidensis and Geobacter sulfurreducens, research tends to open up to other bacterial strains that must be selected and that can also be modified. In this spirit, it would be advantageous to develop new tools to study electroactive bacteria in connection with a chosen reaction. This is the subject of this thesis project which is based on the research developed at LCPME around the concept of electroactive artificial biofilm. Very recently, we have developed a simple method for developing a living material from bacteria and carbon nanomaterials that can be implemented on an electrode to rapidly form this electroactive artificial biofilm. Much of the work has been done with S. oneidensis MR1. The aim of this doctoral research project is first to study, with the original tools we have developed, the bacterial strain G. sulfurreducens PCA, which is of major importance in electro-microbiology. The mechanisms of extracellular electron transfer are complex and we wish to help clarify some of the fundamental issues discussed today for this particular strain. We then want to study the stability of the living material that will result from the assembly of G. sulfurreducens cells with nanomaterials, the artificial biofilm, and evaluate the feasibility of a biotechnological application. Such an objective cannot be achieved without a detailed understanding of the physicochemical and biological mechanisms that are at work during the formation and stabilization of the biocomposite material. This work can then be extended to other electroactive strains in connection with reactions of high biotechnological interest, for the production of biomolecules and biohydrogen. The preferred strains will be Clostridium genus. This research can also be applied to the study of mixed cultures.
How to Apply- When applying, please provide a CV, a motivation letter, marks obtained during your master, at least one recommendation letter.
