06 Postdoctoral Fellowship at European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Germany, Germany

The goal of the Saez Rodriguez group is to acquire a functional understanding of the deregulation of signalling networks in disease and to apply this knowledge to develop novel therapeutics. We focus on cancer, auto-immune and fibrotic disease. Towards this goal, we integrate big (‘Omics’) data with mechanistic molecular knowledge into statistical and machine learning methods, and we share our tools as free open-source packages.

We are looking for an extremely motivated candidate who will take on this cutting-edge project, which has translational potential. The successful candidate will learn, from a current senior team member, how to setup the 3D culture of an in vitro maternal-fetal interface on-chip. The candidate will become adept at employing the model and all associated assays and analysis techniques. As part of a collaboration with local clinical researchers, the candidate will isolate primary-derived trophoblast cells from explanted placenta for incorporation and optimization on-chip. Once optimized, the model will be used to explore a range of questions related to sex differences, exposures, and infection. For the latter part of the project, a collaborative aim is to explore malaria infection in the placenta model, in partnership with Bernabeu group at EMBL Barcelona.

We are looking for a postdoctoral researcher to work on a project using human organoid models to understand how hypoxia, nicotine, and genetic perturbations influence the plasticity of pulmonary neuroendocrine cells and their susceptibility to cancer. Ultimately, we aim to generate genetically engineered human organoid models of neuroendocrine cancer. The project will involve international collaborations with clinicians and environmental epidemiologists as well as the generation and analysis of single cell -omics datasets. Many details of the project can be tailored to fit the candidate’s particular expertise and interests. This specific position is for a 3-year appointment with the possibility and expectation for renewal.

The successful candidate will be intrinsically motivated, and will lead their own project, contribute to other projects on a collaborative basis (both in the lab and with external collaborators) and may guide PhD and Masters students in their research. Importantly, the candidate will contribute to shaping the environment and research of a young and growing research team.

Projects may be selected from pre-defined areas or proposed by the applicant. In the case of self-defined projects, the area of work must have been agreed with both EMBL-EBI and Sanger-based group leaders. The postdoctoral fellowships will be awarded in 2025, to start as soon as possible. Fellowships typically begin before the end of the year, but the start date may be delayed with the agreement of the group leaders. All ESPOD fellowships must be undertaken within 12 months of the fellowship being awarded.

Assisted reproductive technologies (ART) are becoming increasingly important for reproductive choices in our societies due to advancing age and increasing lifestyle diversity of new parents. Our understanding of the processes that limit fertility has advanced tremendously, driven by new optical imaging technologies such as light sheet fluorescence microscopy that can visualize such processes in oocytes and early embryos in mammalian laboratory models at the molecular and cellular scale. However, translating this progress to the fertility clinic to better understand, diagnose and treat the causes of human infertility has been precluded by the lack of technologies that would allow to cross from the molecular and cellular scale that is offered by advanced fluorescence technologies available in research infrastructures, to the physiological scale in the clinic, which must employ label-free imaging methods that do not perturb the fragile biological development at the beginning of life.

Our project aims to bridge the length scales of biology and medicine by developing a novel hybrid microscopy platform that uses the molecular specificity of fluorescence microscopy to computationally revolutionize the information content of label-free approaches. In an interdisciplinary collaboration with the EMBL Imaging Centre and research group of Robert Prevedel, as well as the University Hospital of Heidelberg, we will combine high-resolution fluorescence lightsheet with label-free optical coherence and Brillouin microscopies, which provide advanced morphological and mechanical features of the embryos, respectively. This multimodal data can then be used to train artificial intelligence (AI)-based models to recognize molecular and cellular changes from label-free images only. In this way, we will create a high-resolution cross scale imaging platform that has the potential to close the gap between basic and clinical research by bringing the molecular insights from the research laboratory to the fertility clinic and visualize the currently hidden processes associated with infertility.

• Managing the ARISE2 fellowship programme under the direction of the Fellowship Programmes Lead and the ARISE2 Programme Director and collaborate with the ARISE2 Scientific Director. This includes organizing the programme selection rounds and programme related meetings.
• Maintain close communication with the ARISE Directors, ARISE Executive and Advisory Committee, and the rest of ARISE2 team as well as internal and external stakeholders, e.g. fellows, EMBL group leaders, partner organizations, industry
• Organise and minute meetings, preparation of programme related materials including presentations, keeping records and collecting feedback
• Liaising with RICapacity, the programme’s implementing partner for training and partner relations, including support with logistics of on-site courses and webinars
• Develop and maintain the ARISE2 programme website
• Supporting ARISE2 fellows and supervisors in all programme-related matters (e.g. secondments, training, supervision, monitoring progress)
• Promoting the programme at events and meetings
• Reporting to the EC according to the ARISE2 grant agreement (e.g. on project deliverables)
• Contributing to other postdoctoral programme activities as needed