A 29-month postdoctoral position in medical entomology is available in the Medical Entomology Unit, Institut Pasteur de la Guyane (IPG), Cayenne, French Guiana.

Context: Present in French Guiana since 1940, the Institut Pasteur de la Guyane, a non-profit private foundation of public utility, is part of the Institut Pasteur International Network. Its missions are structured around four components: research, public health, education and services. The main research topics are focused on tropical infectious diseases. IPG is implementing a programme, called STRonGer, funded by the CAPACITY specific programme FP7-REGPOT-2011-1 (Grant agreement REGPOT-CT-2011-285837), that aims at fostering its research potential on emerging and infectious diseases. This programme is multidisciplinary and involves local and European research teams working on virology, parasitology, entomology, ecology, clinical research, epidemiology and phytochemistry.

The host laboratory: The Medical Entomology Unit contributes to scientific research, public health support and education led by IPG. The Unit consists of two researchers, a team of three technicians and welcomes regularly students.

The research programs are interested in mosquitoes responsible for the transmission of malaria, dengue and other arbovirosis as well as in sandflies responsible for the transmission of leishmaniasis in French Guiana. The main scientific studies concern i) Systematical, biological, ecological and behavioral characterization of these insects in relation with their vectorial capacity in various natural or anthropological environments in French Guiana and ii) the identification of phenomena of insecticide resistance and of their determining factors in connection with the vector control operations led on French Guiana. For information about projects and recent publications, please visit: http://www.pasteur-cayenne.fr/stronger and http://www.pasteur-cayenne.fr.

Within the framework of the STRonGer project, the objective of the host laboratory is the intensification of its potential of research in medical entomology through the opening of post-doctoral positions, the acquisition of new equipments and the realization of a technical platform including a level 3 biosafety laboratory, laboratories dedicated to insecticides experimentations, molecular biology manipulations and taxonomy studies and new insectariums.

Job position: Malaria remains a major public health problem in French Guiana and some aspects of the transmission of the parasites by anopheline mosquitoes to human are far from clear in the Amazonian context.

The candidate will implement, under the supervision of the Unit leader or/and by his assistant research works concerning the characterization of anopheline mosquitoes of French Guiana and the study of their role in the malaria transmission in the various existing epidemiological contexts.

The main approached themes of research will be:

• taxonomy and systematics of anopheline mosquitoes of French Guiana;
• biology, ecology and behavior of the anthropophilic species;
• anopheline mosquitoes population dynamics and malaria transmission assessment;
• vectorial competence of species of known or suspected sanitary interest.

The research work will initially be performed in association with the team of the Laboratory of parasitology of the IPG and the “EPaT” team (Epidemiology of tropical parasitoses) of the University of French West Indies and French Guiana.
The candidates should hold a PhD degree and possess expertise in medical entomology.

Application: Please respond by e-mail (using the ref: ENTOMO 02) to Angélina Azanza (aazanza@pasteur-cayenne.fr) with a statement of interest and career objectives, CV, and names with contact information for three references.

Application deadline: Open until filled.