An 18-month post-doctoral research position is available in an interdisciplinary group within the Physics department of the University of Grenoble. The group consists of researchers with a theoretical mechanics and applied mathematics background, and has a day-to-day collaboration with a biology group specialized in cancer cell biology (Institut A. Bonniot). It focuses on mechanical aspects of cell-cell interactions in the context of cancer metastasis.

Specifically, the project aims at understanding the mechanical modalities that allow a tumour cell to migrate through a monolayer of endothelial cell, which is a key process of metastasis known as transmigration. The modelling of this process will be based on experimental measurement of both forces and displacements using state-of-the-art experimental techniques. It will build up from a rheological model and a numerical simulation finite element software currently being developped within the group.

The successful applicant will have a background in mechanics, physics or applied mathematics, and have had a prior experience of interdisciplinary work. _He/she needs to have a prior research experience with hydrodynamics/continuum mechanics approaches._

Knowledge in biophysics appreciated but not mandatory. Start date is flexible, between 1/1/2013 and 1/1/2014. Salary is 2048 euros per month, with national health insurance included. The project will include overhead money for travel and conferences. Grenoble is an enjoyable, average-sized city in a valley of the Alps, with convenient flight connections from Lyon airport.

Contact: Jocelyn Etienne (modelling), Claude Verdier (experiments), Alain Duperray (biology).

Keywords: cytoskeleton dynamics, mechanotransduction, rheology, fluid mechanics, numerical simulations, partial differential equations (PDE), finite elements method (FEM), moving interface problem, applied mathematics.