Reference: 30/2019
Application deadline: 31/01/2020
Number of vacancies: 1
Job description:
VHIO’s Cellular Plasticity & Cancer Group led by Maria Abad seeks a highly motivated postdoctoral candidate to join a project supported by a “La Caixa”-Health Research Grant to study the role of exosome-secreted micropeptides in pancreatic cancer.
Recent evidences have revealed that many regions previously annotated as non-coding actually contain small-open reading frames which code for evolutionary conserved, unnannotated micropeptides. In the lab, we have already discovered 6 novel tumor suppressor micropeptides and have developed the tools and know-how to explore this emerging and fascinating field of the microproteome.
We aim to explore the hypothesis that tumor cells use these micropeptides as cancer-messengers, secreted in exosomes. Using state-of-the-art technologies, we will identify novel exosome-secreted micropeptides that could provide novel targets and biomarkers for pancreatic cancer.
The project, financed as a consortium, will be will be carried out in collaboration with Hector Peinado’s group (CNIO, Madrid) and Bruno Costa-Silva’s team (Champalimaud Foundation, Lisbon). The successful candidate will benefit from the synergic expertise of the consortium and connectivity with these excellent groups.
Requirements:
Enthusiastic and qualified candidates with a strong background in molecular and cell biology, cancer biology, and experience in mouse models are encouraged to apply. Applicants should have excellent organization and communication skills, as well as the proven ability to work independently and as part of a team.
Application:
To join our group and contribute to thishighly stimulating research project, please email a CV, contact information of three references, and a cover letter describing past achievements and research interests to: Maria Abad, Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO): mabad@vhio.net.
About VHIO:
Under the leadership of Josep Tabernero, the Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO), has established itself as a comprehensive cancer center of proven excellence internationally. It is also thanks to VHIO’s optimal organizational structure based on a purely multidisciplinary and translational model that VHIO talents continue to anticipate and tackle the many unresolved questions in combatting this multifaceted and heterogeneous disease.
Located within the Vall d’Hebron Barcelona Hospital Campus, our researchers closely collaborate and interact with Vall d’Hebron physician-scientists. Translational science and clinical research are therefore tightly connected which promotes superb interaction and teamwork which, in turn, accelerates the bench-bedside-bed cycle of knowledge. This privileged environment affords VHIO direct access to patients as well as the entire spectrum of oncology professionals who care for them, and a second-to-none appreciation of how cancer science can translate into more powerful, targeted treatments and better practice for the care of patients.
VHIO’s pioneering model and programs, coupled with its belief in combining strengths through cross-border collaborations, continue to spur advances in reversing cancer resistance, halting metastatic spread, and more effectively treating even the most undruggable tumor types.
VHIO’s translation toward precision oncology: https://www.vhio.net
