PhD/POSTDOC POSITION: ‘CellCircuits: Mining a genomics compendium to identify therapeutic targets’ CONSORTIUM PARTNERS: Wessels Laboratory, The Netherlands Cancer Institute (NKI), Amsterdam. Brummelkamp Laboratory, The Netherlands Cancer Institute (NKI), Amsterdam. Scenic Biotech BV, Amsterdam, The Netherlands PROJECT DESCRIPTION: Human cells perform highly complex tasks and are equipped with the required machinery and decision-making processes that largely remain poorly understood. Although human genes play a central role, no wiring diagram exists depicting their function. This project will link the function of all human genes to a compendium of cellular processes. This will suggest new entry points to manipulate cellular processes and therapeutic strategies to rebalance disease. PUBLIC-PRIVATE, MULTI-DISCIPLINARY COLLABORATION: This consortium will draw upon 1) Phenosaurus, a large collection (~130) of haploid screens generated in collaboration with Scenic Biotech BV employing the Cell-seq technology developed by the Brummelkamp laboratory; 2) the screening, cell and molecular biology expertise of the Brummelkamp laboratory and the computational know-how of the Wessels laboratory. With the Cell-seq technology proven to be highly effective, the opportunity exists now to cover diverse cellular functions and to use advanced computational network inference approaches to deduce the underlying genetic control mechanisms. EMBEDDING: The successful candidate will be employed in the Wessels and Brummelkamp groups at the Netherlands Cancer Institute, and will regularly liaise with Scenic Biotech to generate sufficient cohesion and momentum. CANDIDATE PROFILE: We are seeking a highly motivated PhD candidate with: • A degree in bioinformatics, computer science or a related discipline • Experience in statistics, machine learning and/or pattern recognition • Proficiency in bioinformatics programming languages (e.g. R, Python) • Good cross-disciplinary collaborative and communication skills • Experience in analysing high-throughput molecular data is a plus • Experience in cancer biology and clinical applications is a plus INTERESTED? Please send a CV and motivation letter to Lodewyk Wessels (l.wessels@nki.nl). Please include the names and contact information of at least two references. WANT MORE INFORMATION? Visit our websites: Wessels lab: Computational Cancer Biology: ccb.nki.nl <http://ccb.nki.nl/> Brummelkamp lab: https://www.nki.nl/divisions/biochemistry/brummelkamp-t-group/ <https://www.nki.nl/divisions/biochemistry/brummelkamp-t-group/> or contact Lodewyk Wessels, l.wessels@nki.nl <mailto:l.wessels@nki.nl> DEADLINE: 1 October 2019 RELEVANT LITERATURE: van de Haar J, Canisius S, Yu MK, Voest EE, Wessels LFA, Ideker T. Identifying Epistasis in Cancer Genomes: A Delicate Affair. Cell. 2019 May 30;177(6):1375-1383. Aben N, Westerhuis JA, Song Y, Kiers HAL, Michaut M, Smilde AK, Wessels LFA. iTOP: inferring the topology of omics data. Bioinformatics. 2018 Sep 1;34(17):i988-i996. Brockmann, M., Blomen, V.A., Nieuwenhuis, J., Stickel, E., Raaben, M., Bleijerveld, O.B., Altelaar, A.F.M., Jae, L.T. 1 and Brummelkamp, T.R1. (2017) Genetic wiring maps of single-cell protein states reveal an off-switch for GPCR signalling. Nature 546, 307-311. Nieuwenhuis, J., Adamopoulos, A., Bleijerveld, O.B., Mazouzi, A., Stickel, E., Celie, P., Altelaar, M., Knipscheer, P., Perrakis, A., Blomen, V.A., and Brummelkamp, T.R. (2017) Vasohibins encode tubulin detyrosinating activity. Science 6369, 1453-1456. Mezzadra, R. 1, Sun, C. 1, Jae, L.T. 1, Gomez-Eerland, R., de Vries, E., Wu, W., Logtenberg, M.E.W., Slagter, M., Rozeman, E.A., Hofland, I., Broek,s A., Horlings, H.M., Wessels, L.F.A., Blank, C.U., Xiao,