Postdoc Position in Melanoma Regulatory Genomics : Leuven, Belgium

The* Laboratory of Computational Biology*, headed by Prof. Stein Aerts, at the Center for Human Genetics, University of Leuven, is hiring a
Postdoc in Melanoma Regulatory Genomics

We combine gene expression profiling (RNA-seq), chromatin activity profiling (ATAC-seq, ChIP-seq) and computational methods for cis-regulatory sequence analysis to study the regulatory genomics of melanomagenesis and melanoma progression. In close collaboration with the University Hospital Leuven you will analyse patient samples (both tumor biopsies and short-term cultures) at the genomic, transcriptomic, and epigenomic level to infer master regulators and gene regulatory networks involved in melanoma tumorigenesis, with a particular focus on tumor heterogeneity, cellular plasticity, and phenotype switching. The application of single-cell RNA-seq is also a possibility.

Your challenge is to generate and integrate these data with computational predictions of cis-regulatory modules, and with publicly available data from ENCODE, Epigenomics Roadmap, and TCGA, to gain new insight into genome control driving normal and oncogenic networks. If successful, you can apply your predictive models to re-sequenced cancer genomes to identify and prioritize cis-regulatory variation that impacts gene regulation and drives oncogenesis.

Qualifications:

• PhD degree in computational or biological/biomedical field
• Interested in cancer gene regulatory networks and transcriptional control, and highly motivated
• Strong track record of publications in the field of computational biology and/or cancer genomics, analysis of
  high-throughput data sets, data integration
• Experience with bioinformatics programming is a plus, including scripting (e.g., Python) and R (incl. Bioconductor).
• Experience with cancer cell cultures, biochemistry, ChIP-seq, RNA-seq, and other next-generation sequencing methods is also considered as a plus.

Candidates can apply by sending a motivation letter, CV, and contact details of two references tostein.aerts@med.kuleuven.be