Company Description

A key global player in fermentation for more than a century, Lesaffre, with a 2,7 billion euro turnover, and established on all continents, counts 11,000 employees and more than 96 nationalities. On the strength of this experience and diversity, we work with customers, partners and researchers to find ever more relevant answers to the needs of food, health, naturalness and respect for our environment. Thus, every day, we explore and reveal the infinite potential of microorganisms. 

To nourish 9 billion people, in a healthy way, in 2050 by making the most of our planet’s resources is a major and unprecedented issue. We believe that fermentation is one of the most promising answers to this challenge. 

Lesaffre – Working together to better nourish and protect the planet.

Job Description

Objective:

Spore formers are an important class of microorganisms that have a wide range of applications in the food and biotech industries. The intern will contribute to a deeper understanding of spore-forming bacteria and their antibiotic resistance mechanisms, by developing methods for the characterization of spore-forming bacteria compatible with high throughput screening and assessing identifying genes responsible for antibiotic resistance using genomic data and molecular biology tools.

Approach:

The intern will be in charge of:

• In-depth literature review on spore former functionalities to identify ideal targets for high-throughput characterization testing.
• Development of new characterization methods compatible with HTS
• Genome analysis of spore-forming bacteria to identify genes responsible of antibiotic resistance
• Construction of GMO-strains to confirm the function of the identified genes.

Deliverables:

1. Detailed report on the optimization of the effectiveness of sporulation and germination of spore-forming bacteria using MTP and high-throughput methods.
2. Identification of antibiotic resistance genes correlated with phenotypic resistance profiles.

Education and Experience:

• Master or Engineer’s degree in Microbiology/Biology or Food Science.

Technical skills:

• knowledge in applied microbiology, bacteria physiology, cultivation, and assay development. Knowledge of bacterial spore formers handling is a plus.
• Familiarity with bioinformatics tools.
• Knowledge in genetic engineering. Previous experience in this domain would be a plus.
• Fluent in English. Basic French knowledge is a plus.
• Writing Skills:  English writing abilities.

Behavioral skills:

• Sense of relationships, positive, pro-active and team spirited.
• Autonomous and with a critical thinking attitude.
• Good communication skills, synthetic, able to adapt and convey messages. 

Additional Information

What can Lesaffre offer you: 

• We are a successful family-owned company with long-standing history where people truly matter. 
• We promote a sense of fulfilment with a genuine mission: nourish and protect the planet. 
• An opportunity to work in a real international environment. 

All our jobs are open to people with disabilities.