Honey bees as sentinel species an eco-exposome research

The honey bee colony acts as a significant interface with the environment, primarily through its foraging behavior and interaction with diverse sources of food. During foraging, honey bees inadvertently collect contaminants, ranging from solid particles in varying sizes to liquid substances, which are subsequently brought back to the hive. This accumulation of foraged materials, including associated contaminants, within the hive, makes the honey bee colony a potent biomonitoring tool. Consequently, the colony serves as a reliable indicator of environmental pollution levels within its foraging area. Honey bees and their products provide valuable insights into pollution across urban, suburban, and rural environments, particularly concerning pesticides and other pollutants.
However, honey bee populations are increasingly facing numerous stressors that impact their vitality and productivity. These stress factors encompass physical, biological, and chemical elements, including human interventions, environmental factors, pathogens, and chemical pollutants. In such aspect, the understanding of the influence of these stressors on honey bee behavior and colony health is of pivotal importance. As such, this thesis project would be part of the broader field of eco-exposome, ecotoxicology and health safety. Indeed, human beings of all ages consume beehive products.

Within the broader objective of assessing the impacts of external stress on bee colonies, this proposed PhD project focuses specifically on investigating pesticide residues and potential organic contaminants (> 1000 contaminants by a targeted approach and more by suspected/non-targeted approach) in honey bees and their products like pollen, beeswax, beebread, and honey. The objectives of this research are: (1) to learn how to use bee colonies as indicators/proxies of environmental pollution, (2) to try to better understand the fate of contaminants between the external environment, bees and hive products through the development and application of innovative and modern sampling techniques combined with targeted, suspected (SS) and non-targeted (NTS) screening methods employing low and high resolution mass spectrometry. This research aligns with the objectives of PARC 4.3, aiming to establish honey bees as an effective biomonitoring tool and sentinel species for environmental pollution. The research's ultimate goal is to understand the correlation between environmental stressors, honey bee behavior, and acts in support to the development of an early warning system for environmental hazards.

The candidate will be involved in the work of the European (Horizon Europe) PARC project (https://www.eu-parc.eu) and will have access to the entire European exposome community.

The thesis will be carried out between Slovenia (JSI) and France (ANSES, Maisons-Alfort and Sophia Antipolis). The diploma will be awarded by Slovenia and will be co-directed by Dr. Tina Kosjek (JSI) and Dr. Julien Parinet (ANSES).

The food safety laboratory is based in Maisons-Alfort, with a site in Boulogne-sur-Mer. It works on biological and chemical hazards that can affect food safety and quality. The Maisons-Alfort site employs 120 people specialized in food safety, while the Boulogne-sur-Mer site employs over 20 people dedicated to the quality and hygiene of fishery and aquaculture products.

We are looking for a candidate with a background in analytical chemistry (organic compounds) Master 2 and/or engineering school, preferably with initial experience in LC-MS and/or GC-MS (internship), LC-HRMS would be an important plus. Interest and experience in data processing (R, Python) and statistics would be appreciated.

A strong interest and motivation to work on exposome and health safety issues is essential.

Good level of French and English expected.