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INRAE Presentation
The French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment (INRAE) is a public research institution with a workforce of 12,000 people. It has 272 research, service and experimental units, located in 18 centers throughout France. INRAE is a world leader in agricultural and food sciences, plant and animal sciences. Its research aims to build solutions for multi-performance agriculture, quality food and sustainable management of resources and ecosystems.
Work environment, missions and activities
Evaluation of the impact of reduced protein intake on eating behavior: studies in human volunteers and rats.
You will join the “Protein intake, intestinal signals and neuroscience of eating behavior” team of the UMR 0914 “Physiology of Nutrition and Eating Behavior” INRAE-AgroParisTech. The team includes researchers in eating behavior, nutritionists and neurobiologists who study the determinants of food intake in humans and rats, particularly the protein composition of the diet.
Project summary: Current recommendations aim to reduce human protein consumption and rebalance the proportion of proteins in favor of plant proteins. However, a diet low in protein leads to compensatory hyperphagia in animals and potentially in humans. To better establish the recommendations, it is necessary to understand this hyperphagia process and to know if it represents a real additional obesogenic risk in the population. To test this risk in humans, we will conduct a study in the fall of 2024 in around twenty healthy volunteers who will be subjected to a week of controlled diets, supervised by dietary questionnaires and behavioral tests. In parallel, we will analyze data obtained from rats subjected to diets with variable protein content to better understand how the nervous system detects, codes and integrates the quality and quantity of ingested proteins. The experimental approach targets the dorsal vagal complex (CDV) of the brainstem that receives information from the digestive tract, dependent on the quality and quantity of food ingested. The objective of the internship is to participate in the implementation and analysis of the study in volunteers, as well as in the molecular and histological analyses of samples collected from rats. It is also possible that we will conduct a new cohort of rats at the time of the internship (depending on the results of the study currently in progress), complementary to the current data.
You will be more specifically responsible for:
- Conduct a bibliographic study on the subject (scientific and technical aspects)
- Participate in the human study protocol, its implementation and the analysis of consumption and behavioral data
- Participate in the analysis of samples obtained on the rat model
- Contribute to the creation of a new cohort of rats, if this takes place.
- Collect and analyze the results obtained
Your activity will be located within the UMR 914 PNCA on the Campus-Agro site (AgroParisTech-INRAE) of the University of Paris-Saclay (Building E, 22 Place de l’Agronomie, 91120 PALAISEAU). This site brings together the AgroParisTech school and 9 research units. The unit has all the laboratory equipment necessary for the internship activities.
The internship will be supervised by Isabelle Denis (INRAE researcher, Head of the API-Neuro team), Olga Davidenko (APT Lecturer), Marjorie Gourru (PhD student), Gaëlle Champeil-Potokar (INRAE Research Engineer) and will benefit from the support of other members of the team (Tristan Dadillon (PhD student) and Véronique Mathé (INRAE technician)).
Training and skills sought
Required training: Student in engineering school (gap internship) or university (Bachelor’s degree required) with a specialty in nutrition.
Desired knowledge: BAC +3 level in Biology having validated in his course of the UEs of nutrition, and/or physiology, neurophysiology, endocrinology, statistics, epidemiology. Fluent use of the English language (reading, writing, scientific discussion).
Experience appreciated: internships in research laboratories and other professional environments that have familiarized you with rodent protocols, with the acquisition of knowledge in neurobiology and/or nutrition, the analysis and presentation of experimental results.
Skills sought: collective thinking, rigor and method, enthusiasm, involvement, honesty, autonomy, perseverance, resistance to failure, openness to others and relational simplicity.
Your quality of life at INRAE
– collective catering.
How to apply
I send my CV and my cover letter
People welcomed at INRAE, a public research institution, are subject to its internal regulations, particularly with regard to the obligation of neutrality and respect for the principle of secularism. As such, in the exercise of their functions, whether or not they are in contact with the public, they must not manifest their convictions, by their behavior or their dress, whether they are religious, philosophical or political.
INRAE Presentation
The French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment (INRAE) is a public research institution bringing together a working community of 12,000 people, with 272 research, service and experimental units, located in 18 centers throughout France. INRAE is positioned among the very first world leaders in agricultural and food sciences, plant and animal sciences. Its research aims to build solutions for multi-performance agriculture, quality food and sustainable management of resources and ecosystems.
Work environment, missions and activities
Evaluation of the impact of reduced protein intake on eating behavior: studies in human volunteers and rats.
You will be welcomed within the team “Protein intake, intestinal signals and neuroscience of eating behavior” of the UMR 0914 “Physiology of Nutrition and Eating Behavior” INRAE-AgroParisTech. The team brings together researchers in eating behavior, nutritionists and neurobiologists studying the determinants of food intake in humans and rats, in particular the protein composition of the diet.
Project summary : Current recommendations aim to reduce human protein consumption and rebalance the proportion of proteins in favor of plant proteins. However, a diet low in protein leads to compensatory hyperphagia in animals and potentially in humans. To better establish the recommendations, it is necessary to better understand this hyperphagia process and to know if it represents a real additional obesogenic risk in the population. To test this risk in humans, we will conduct a study in the fall of 2024 in around twenty healthy volunteers who will be subjected to a week of controlled diets, supervised by dietary questionnaires and behavioral tests. In parallel, we will analyze data obtained from rats subjected to diets with variable protein content to better understand how the nervous system detects, codes and integrates the quality and quantity of ingested proteins. The experimental approach targets the dorsal vagal complex (CDV) of the brainstem that receives information from the digestive tract, dependent on the quality and quantity of food ingested. The objective of the internship is to participate in the implementation and analysis of the study in volunteers, as well as in the molecular and histological analyses of samples collected from rats. It is also possible that we will conduct a new cohort of rats at the time of the internship (depending on the results of the study currently in progress), complementary to the current data.
You will be more specifically responsible for:
- Conduct a bibliographic study on the subject (scientific and technical aspects)
- Participate in the human study protocol, its implementation and the analysis of consumption and behavioral data
- Participate in the analysis of samples obtained on the rat model
- Contribute to the creation of a new cohort of rats, if this takes place.
- Collect and analyze the results obtained
Your activity will be located within the UMR 914 PNCA on the Campus-Agro site (AgroParisTech-INRAE) of the University of Paris-Saclay (Building E, 22 Place de l’Agronomie, 91120 PALAISEAU). This site brings together the AgroParisTech school and 9 research units. The unit has all the laboratory equipment necessary for the internship activities.
The internship will be supervised by Isabelle Denis (INRAE researcher, Head of the API-Neuro team), Olga Davidenko (APT Lecturer), Marjorie Gourru (PhD student), Gaëlle Champeil-Potokar (INRAE Research Engineer) and will benefit from the support of other members of the team (Tristan Dadillon (PhD student) and Véronique Mathé (INRAE technician)).
Training and skills sought
¡Required training: Student in engineering school (gap internship) or university (Bachelor’s degree required) with a specialty in nutrition.
Desired knowledge: BAC +3 level in Biology having validated in his course of the UEs of nutrition, and/or physiology, neurophysiology, endocrinology, statistics, epidemiology. Fluent use of the English language (reading, writing, scientific discussion).
¡Experience appreciated: internships in research laboratories and other professional environments that have familiarized you with rodent protocols, with the acquisition of knowledge in neurobiology and/or nutrition, the analysis and presentation of experimental results.
Skills sought: collective thinking, rigor and method, enthusiasm, involvement, honesty, autonomy, perseverance, resistance to failure, openness to others and relational simplicity.
Your quality of life at INRAE
– collective catering.
How to apply
I send my CV and my cover letter
People welcomed at INRAE, a public research institution, are subject to its internal regulations, particularly with regard to the obligation of neutrality and respect for the principle of secularism. As such, in the exercise of their functions, whether or not they are in contact with the public, they must not manifest their convictions, by their behavior or their dress, whether they are religious, philosophical or political.
