The Princess Máxima Center for pediatric oncology is a unique interdisciplinary institute that brings together all the highly complex care, research, and education to provide the best possible care for children with cancer. This concentration and integration of specialized pediatric oncology reflects our mission: to provide a cure and optimal quality of life for every child with cancer. Close cooperation between care and research will lead to more children being cured of cancer, with fewer adverse effects later in life.
Background
Over recent years, the van Heesch lab has discovered thousands of new “non-canonical” open reading frames (ncORFs) translated from regions of the genome believed not to code for protein. Many of these newly translated sequences are evolutionarily young, meaning they emerged recently during primate evolution. Despite their young age, several may produce functional small proteins termed microproteins. Interestingly, many ncORFs and putative microproteins are expressed during early brain development, leading us to hypothesize that they may play roles in brain development and early onset cancer. The aim of this NWO Vidi-funded project is to develop and use computational approaches to investigate how cancer- and developmentally expressed non-canonical ORFs evolved and whether they can play a role in deadly early developmental brain cancers. This will yield novel mechanistic insights into the role of young ncORFs and proteins in brain development and cancer.
The position
For this project, you will develop and apply computational methods to investigate the evolutionary origins, expression dynamics, and characteristics of ncORFs in childhood brain cancer. You will investigate how widespread ncORF translation is in brain cancer and human development, how it is regulated, and whether they can be linked to functional processes.
Profile
We are looking for an enthusiastic and highly motivated postdoc with prior PhD experience in computational genomics, ideally with experience in evolutionary biology, gene- and protein evolution, multiple-species alignment, primate evolution, protein sequence evolution, and gene expression regulation.
Furthermore, you:
- Hold a PhD in (evolutionary) genetics, genomics, computational biology, or related disciplines.
- Have a demonstrated strong scientific track record a showcased through impactful publications/preprints from your prior research.
- Have experience with computational biology, specifically evolutionary genetics/genomics (MSA, phylogenetic trees, comparative genomics, etc).
- Have experience applying bioinformatics pipelines and tools to RNA-seq and Ribo-seq data
- Have experience with downstream data analysis and data visualisation
- Are fluent with R and/or python and know how to work in an HPC environment (e.g., slurm). Other programming languages and cloud experience are a plus.
- Have excellent analytical and problem-solving skills.
- Are a team player with excellent communication and presentation skills.
- Possess excellent oral and written English skills.
Our job offer
We offer a full-time position (based on 36 hours a week) in a very stimulating and interactive environment. You will also have the opportunity to actively collaborate with various research groups at the Princess Máxima Center and the Biomolecular Mass Spectrometry and Proteomics groups at Utrecht University. The contract will be initially for one year, with the possibility to extend upon satisfaction. The earliest envisioned starting date is 1 May 2025, but earlier or later start dates can be discussed. Your gross monthly salary will be based on your experience and background within scale FWG 60 (min. €3923,- max. €5746,-) and will include 8,33% holiday allowance and 8,33 % end-of-year bonus. The Princess Máxima Center operates according to the collective labor agreement ‘CAO ziekenhuizen’.
Work environment
The Van Heesch group was established in 2020 and currently consists of 14 people, including PhD students, postdocs, research technicians, bioinformaticians, and interns. We combine wet lab and computational work and offer support in both directions. Our group works on a diversity of tumor entities and most of our projects are centered around the discovery of new translated open reading frames through RNA-seq and ribosome profiling.
We value diversity and inclusivity, an open and welcoming working atmosphere, and a healthy work-life balance. Our group frequently organizes social events and makes sure international team members feel welcome! The Máxima center is a highly international research environment with over 50 different nationalities, with various initiatives and activities to stimulate interaction and support international staff.
This is not intended to be a fully remote position.
Contact
Are you excited about this position? We are looking forward to meeting you! You can apply directly by clicking on the orange button on this page. We invite you to apply as soon as possible, since we will close the vacancy when we have found a suitable candidate.
Please provide:
- an up-to-date resume/CV
- a motivation letter describing your background, interests, and fit with our group/research
- contact information of 2-3 references
For more information about this position, or to arrange an informal chat, please contact Sebastiaan van Heesch. Sebastiaan will be happy to tell you more!
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