Laboratory: Inserm U1237, PhIND, Caen, France (dir : Pr Denis Vivien), Team Multimodal Neuroimaging and Lifestyle in Aging and Alzheimer’s disease (Dr. Gaël Chételat)

PhD Title: Assessing the influence of lifestyle factors on cognition and brain biomarkers of ageing and Alzheimer’s disease

This project will be part of the Medit-Ageing European project, led by Dr. Gaël Chételat (Caen, France). Medit-Aging includes 10 partners from 6 European Countries (France, Belgium, Switzerland, UK, Germany, Spain) and aims at investigating the influence of meditation and foreign language learning on mental health and well-being in the ageing population. In that context, we included ~140 cognitively unimpaired older adults who underwent multimodal neuroimaging (structural, functional MRI, diffusion imaging, FDG- and amyloid PET), detailed behavioral evaluations (cognition, lifestyle, psychoaffective factors) and blood sampling (blood markers and genetics). All exams were done at inclusion and after an 18-month period, during which part of the participants received an intervention (either based on meditation or second language learning); a long-term follow-up of these participants is currently ongoing.

The PhD position is already funded and should start between November and December 2021. This 3-year position follows standard French salaries at Inserm. The student will be a member of the Chételat lab, located in Caen, France. She/he will be in charge of data analyses (behavioral and neuroimaging) and dissemination of the results
(communications in conferences and manuscript publication). She/he will also be involved in the lab activities (which might include data acquisition, data entry, quality control etc.).

Candidate profile and requirements:

• The candidates must have a MSc in psychology, neuropsychology, neurosciences, or related
• field.
• We are looking for highly motivated candidates with scientific curiosity and good teamwork
• skills
• Previous experience in the field of aging, Alzheimer’s Disease and/or neuroimaging would be
• an advantage.
• Proficiency in written and oral English is required. Speaking French would be an asset.

Application:

Please send a curriculum vitae, academic transcript, a letter on motivation and interests and at least 1 reference letter (2 whenever possible).

Please send your application before October 15th, 2021 to Julie Gonneaud: gonneaud@cyceron.fr

For further information about the Silver Santé Study visit the project website at http://www.silversantestudy.eu or watch the project’s 3-minute film at http://ow.ly/Lhle30lUZqp.

Further info on the Chételat Lab can be found at http://www.chetelat-lab.fr.