Postdoctoral position in Bioinformatics, Computational Biologist, In Lisbon Portugal 2015

The project: IL-7 and its receptor (IL7R) are essential for normal T-cell development and function. However, they can also promote autoimmunity, chronic inflammation and cancer. We showed that T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) patients can display IL7R gain-of-function mutations leading to constitutive signaling and cell transformation (“IL7SigNETnure – IL-7/IL-7R signaling networks in health and malignancy” (ERC CoG-648455).

The successful candidate will be involved in the analysis of proteomics, transcriptomics and chemical screen datasets, and in their integration, in order to: 1) identify new genes and functional pathways associated with IL-7/IL-7R signaling; and 2) develop an unbiased and systematic view of the signaling landscape downstream from both physiological as well as mutant IL-7R activation.

This will involve combining different pathway and network analysis tools, creating and/or implementing algorithms in order to generate landscape models that can be tested in the wet lab and reiteratively improved, and establishing an integrated online database for our datasets.

The work will be conducted in direct collaboration with the experimental biologists in the lab and in close contact with the computational and systems biology lab of Dr. Nuno Barbosa-Morais at iMM. In addition, Dr. Aviv Regev (Broad Institute, Cambridge, MA, USA) will act as consultant to the project.

You: Highly motivated, creative, resilient, optimistic, ready to take on new challenges, and eager to participate in an ambitious project where you can make a difference. With an excellent track record, large degree of independence, and still having fun in working also as team player. You must also have:

• A PhD in Bioinformatics, Computational Biology or related area;
• Good general understanding of molecular cell biology and cell signaling;
• Experience in analysis of disparate ‘omics data sets, including pathway-, network- and gene ontology;
• Know-how and creative ability to integrate different datasets into a coherent platform;
• Advanced programming experience in one or more of the common used languages, such as Python, Perl, and R/Bioconductor.

This is a 1 year scholarship, to be renewed yearly for 2 to 5 years.

https://imm.medicina.ulisboa.pt/files/3314/3748/8775/41-2015-BPD-JBARATA_eng_vf.pdf

Closing date: 6th September 2015