Doctoral contract in biomathematics

Offre de contrat doctoral de Claire DELACOTTE - FR/EN
Link to the offer in PDF format

Profound changes in our lifestyle’s habits contribute to the continuous and rapid increase in the proportion of individuals who are overweight, diabetic, or affected by other metabolic disorders. The World Health Organization recognizes overweight and obesity as the 4th leading risk factor for mortality, with 2.8 million deaths annually worldwide. One in two French adults is affected by overweight or obesity, and this proportion will continue to grow.

The development of chronic liver disease is one of the possible consequences of metabolic syndrome. Steatotic liver diseases (SLDs), chronic liver diseases linked to alcohol consumption and/or metabolic syndrome, are currently the main causes of cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma, responsible for nearly 8,000 deaths annually.

Thus, in the near future, an increase in patients presenting with SLD is expected, which will pose a growing challenge for medical units, both in terms of managing the risk factor and handling complications. Today, therapeutic advances make it possible to limit the impact of metabolic syndrome by acting on its different components and help improve liver health.

However, despite ongoing trials, European societies recently reiterated that no molecule has obtained marketing authorization for the treatment of the hepatic manifestations of metabolic syndrome. Therefore, improving prevention, screening and patient management is necessary in order to reduce the associated epidemiological burden. As the resources allocated to health policies are limited, modifying existing healthcare actions or implementing new ones requires objectively demonstrating their necessity and
potential impact.

In this context, and as a continuation of the team’s work, the PhD candidate will participate in the interdisciplinary NUTEMAB project, which combines clinical expertise in metabolic diseases with advanced numerical methods, particularly in biomathematics, in order to rethink obesity management. The objective of this thesis is to carry out a comparative evaluation of prevention and treatment strategies for metabolic syndrome, using a specific disease progression model. This model will make it possible to quantify the impact of the different interventions on morbidity, mortality and associated costs.

Application deadline: Sunday, June 21st, 2026, 11:59 PM (Paris time)