PhD in biological sciences offer M/F

id="offer-description" class="ecl-u-type-heading-2 ecl-u-mt-none ecl-u-mb-l">Offer Description The PhD student recruited will work within a team comprising seven permanent staff members. This team is part of the MCD unit. The MCD unit focuses on fundamental research in the life sciences, centring on the mechanisms governing the organisation and function of genomes, cell division and cell mechanics, cell identity and development. The MCD unit comprises 26 teams, organising the work of over 200 people across four research programmes. Ribosomes are the only molecular machines capable of synthesising proteins. Their synthesis is therefore crucial for the cell, which devotes a very significant proportion of its resources to this process. This synthesis is activated under conditions of increased demand for protein synthesis, particularly in cancers. Ribosomes consist of two subunits, a large (60S) and a small (40S) subunit, each composed of one or more ribosomal RNA (rRNA) molecules associated with numerous ribosomal proteins (RPs). The catalytic activity of ribosomes—namely, the synthesis of peptide bonds—is mediated by rRNA. This activity depends on the correct synthesis of rRNA molecules and their proper assembly with their partner RP proteins. rRNA molecules are produced from precursor molecules (pre-rRNAs), which contain additional sequences ('spacer' sequences) absent from mature rRNAs and which are progressively removed during the maturation of the pre-rRNAs. These will also