[BBC] Postdoc in Computational Biology

[l.wessels at nki.nl]

COMPUTATIONAL BIOLOGY POSITION: RESPONSE PREDICTION ON EX-VIVO DATA FOR DRUG REPURPOSING

PROJECT INFORMATION:
The promise of personalized cancer treatment can only be fulfilled when a therapy exists that is suitable for a specific tumor. Thus far, the number of targeted therapies have remained limited and many tumor types can therefore only be treated with aspecific therapies. This project is aimed at employing ex-vivo testing, genomic profiling and computational approaches to identify novel applications of existing hormonal drugs, and to find biomarkers for sensitivity to these agents. Since all these therapeutics have already been introduced into the clinic years ago, the physiologic, pathologic and any potential adverse side-effects are well-known. More importantly, the project would potentially realize targeted therapy options for patients for whom only aspecific, often highly toxic, chemotherapeutics are available, greatly increasing the quality of life for these cancer patients.

Tumor samples from patients will be profiled for receptor expression to identify steroid hormone receptors that may be effective on these samples. Ex-vivo screening of the selected drugs will identify responding and non-responding samples which will subsequently be subjected to genomics analyses (RNA-seq, ChIP-seq and FAIRE-seq). We will identify mechanisms of response and associated biomarkers for each tested drug through computational analysis of these profiles.

The project will employ the complementary expertise and tools from the groups of Wilbert Zwart, specialized in chromatin genomics of breast and prostate cancer and the Computational Cancer Biology group lead by Lodewyk Wessels at the Netherlands Cancer Institute, Amsterdam. The position is will be shared between these groups.

REQUIREMENTS:
We are seeking highly motivated Postdoc or PhD candidates with a degree in bioinformatics, computer science, mathematics or physics and with a strong cancer biology interest. Preferably applicants should have a strong documented experience in analyzing high-throughput genomics data. Fluency in spoken and written English is a strong requirement.

CONTACT DETAILS
Please contact Lodewyk Wessels (tel. +31 20 512 7987 / e-mail: l.wessels at nki.nl) or Wilbert Zwart (tel. +31 20 512 7920 / e-mail: w.zwart at nki.nl)  When applying please ensure you include a CV, list of publications and the names and addresses of at least two persons that can be approached to obtain further information. Also see ccb.nki.nl for further information.

CLOSING DATE: 15 August 2014