This postdoctoral position is funded for 3 years, and is available from September 1st, 2023. It is supported by an Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR AAP2022 “LUMEN”, coordinator: M. Zysman) grant. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a major public health disease. To overcome the limitations of current emphysema models, the PhD student will: (1) develop a “alveolosphere” model with human alveolar epithelial cells and fibroblasts; (2) build a 4D alveolosphere that resembles the phenotype and functionalities of alveoli of COPD patients, by incorporating fibroblasts and exposing the alveolospheres to cigarette smoke or to hypoxia. We will also stretch mechanically the substrate to reproduce breathing. This project is intrinsically interdisciplinary and involves 3 complementary partners, with chest physicians and physiologists from INSERM U1045 (Team ‘Bronchial remodeling’), biophysicists from CNRS, IINS UMR 5297 (V. Studer) and the Alveole company.