Postdoctoral Researcher in Computational Oncology

Closing date: May 5

Resistance to cancer therapy remains a major obstacle to durable treatment benefit. Increasing evidence suggests that metabolic rewiring and oxidative-stress adaptation enable tumour cells to survive radiotherapy, chemotherapy and radioligand therapy. In this postdoctoral project, you will investigate how loss of ECHDC2 shapes these processes by leading computational method development and integrative analyses of experimental, clinical and public transcriptomic, spatial and functional-genomic datasets using state-of-the-art machine learning approaches. The aim is to derive biomarkers of ECHDC2-linked metabolic rewiring and uncover targetable vulnerabilities in therapy-resistant cancers.

Postdoctoral Researcher in Computational Oncology

Job description

The project is conducted in collaboration with the Group of Prof. Sven Rottenberg (University of Bern) and involves leading computational method development and integrative analyses of large-scale transcriptomic, spatial and functional-genomic datasets from experimental models, patient tumours and public resources to derive biomarkers of ECHDC2-linked metabolic rewiring and uncover targetable vulnerabilities associated with resistance to radiotherapy, chemotherapy and radioligand therapy.

The postdoctoral researcher will take a leading role in developing and applying computational workflows for bulk and single-cell RNA-seq, spatial profiling and functional-genomic data; integrating project-generated data with clinically annotated cohorts and public resources; and deriving robust ECHDC2-associated biomarkers, transcriptional signatures and prioritised targetable vulnerabilities for downstream validation.

The postdoctoral researcher is expected to drive the computational strategy of the project, contribute to the supervision of junior researchers, coordinate analyses with collaborators, and disseminate the findings through publications, poster presentations and talks within the UMCG as well as at national and international meetings.

Working environment

A postdoctoral position for 4 years is available within the Computational Oncology group and will be co-supervised by Prof. Rudolf Fehrmann and Dr. Arkajyoti Bhattacharya. The group uses big-data approaches combined with machine learning (ML) to identify molecular, imaging, or clinicopathological patterns relevant to the pathophysiological behaviour and treatment response of tumours. The research group is embedded in the Department of Medical Oncology of the University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG) in the Netherlands, where oncological patient care is coordinated with preclinical and fundamental research on the biology and treatment of cancer.

The Department of Medical Oncology participates in the research institute MoHAD (Mechanisms of Health, Aging and Disease), in which molecular biologists, pharmacists and clinicians work closely together, creating an optimal and excellent environment where the biological behaviour of cancer cells, molecular imaging of tumours and novel approaches to cancer targeting are studied.

What do we need

The postdoctoral researcher will be part of an enthusiastic and multidisciplinary research group and should meet the following requirements:

• A PhD degree in bioinformatics, computational biology, data science, systems biology, biomedical sciences, artificial intelligence, or a related field;
• Strong experience with transcriptomic or other omics data analysis, statistics, and programming in R and/or Python;
• Experience with computational method development and integrative analysis of large-scale datasets; experience with single-cell and spatial transcriptomics and/or functional-genomic data is an advantage;
• Affinity with machine learning and translational cancer research; experience with clinically annotated cohorts and large public datasets is an advantage;
• A proven ability to work independently and collaboratively in a multidisciplinary environment, with excellent communication skills in written and spoken English;
• A track record of scientific writing and peer-reviewed publication commensurate with career stage.

What do we offer

A temporary full-time Postdoctoral Research position for 4 years. The initial contract will be for 1 year and, after positive evaluation, this will be extended for 3 additional years. The starting salary depends on qualifications and relevant experience, with a maximum of € 5.669 gross per month based on a full-time appointment (salary scale 10). In addition, the UMCG offers an 8% holiday allowance and an 8.3% year-end bonus. The conditions of employment comply with the Collective Labour Agreement for Medical Centres (CAO-UMC).