PhD position in cell biology at the University of Lausanne starting January 2023

The scientific mission of the department of biomedical sciences, made up of more than 15 research groups and nearly 120 collaborators, is to study the biological mechanisms that govern the function of the human body and are responsible for the appearance of various diseases.
The laboratory of Prof. Christian Widmann investigates the uptake mechanisms of cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) and physiological proteins bearing CPP sequences such as homeoproteins.
CPPs generally correspond to short cationic peptides. They are often present in anti-cancer and anti-microbial peptides but also found in important signaling proteins such as homeoproteins. CPPs allow the intracellular delivery of cargo molecules that are hooked to them. Despite their potential practical applications, the mechanisms of CPP entry inside cells are ill-defined and even controversial. The current focus of our laboratory is to characterize the mechanism of CPP cell entry via direct translocation or via endocytosis and how they escape endosomes when they use this later entry route. We also investigate how physiological molecules that naturally bear cell-penetrating sequences, such as homeoproteins, enter cells.