We are looking for a highly motivated PhD student to be jointly hosted by the team of Lukas Kenner and Brigitte Hantusch at the Department of Pathology (Medical University of Vienna). The PhD project will be part of a project for “Refined molecular tumor characterization for precision medicine” funded by the “Christian Doppler Laboratory for Applied Metabolomics” (CDL-AM).
The Project:
The overarching goal of this project is to elucidate the role of thyroid hormone pathway for prognosis and therapy response of PCa. We could show that thyroid hormones stimulate PCa growth and that TRβ can regulate PCa-specific genes in conjunction with the androgen receptor (AR). Interfering with this yet unnoted T3/TRβ/AR axis might represent a potential approach for novel therapies in androgen-refractory PCa. We aim to elucidate the TRβ/AR interaction with and without androgen and/or T3 stimulation in vitro and before and after castration in transgenic PCa mouse models in vivo. The student will measure the transcriptional activity of TRβ/AR complex by promotor gene activity, nuclear translocation of AR and gene expression studies. He/she will investigate the effects of anti-thyroid agents and validate the results in human xenograft models for PCa and correlate them with histo-pathological and molecular findings to identify a PCa patient cohort that might benefit from therapeutic targeting of thyroid hormone signaling.
The Host Institute:
Christian-Doppler Laboratory for Applied Metabolomics (CDL-AM) is situated at the Campus of the Medical University of Vienna https://www.meduniwien.ac.at/web/. The infrastructure of the Department for Pathology as well as the Core Facilities of the MedUni Vienna located at the interdisciplinary Anna Spiegel Center of Translational Research (https://corefacilities.meduniwien.ac.at) are equipped with state of the art laboratory and laboratory animal facilities.
The Candidate – Desired Skills and Experience:
- Master’s degree in Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, Bioanalytical Sciences or a related field.
- Strong background in research including experiments with cells, cell culturing, transfections and assays, knock down and knock out of genes, and animal experiments with tumor mice.
- Standard molecular biology methods such as RT-PCR, sequencing, cloning, Western Blot, protein chemistry, CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing.
- Background in pre-clinical research (e.g. experiments with cells and mice) and/or background in biostatistics/data science are an advantage.
- Willingness to learn new (omics) technologies and more about data science analyses.
- Very good communication skills in English (optional: German); Lab management and organization skills; high flexibility and mobility.
We offer:
• State-of-the-art laboratory and imaging infrastructure and supervision by recognized experts.
• A challenging job in an inspiring, dynamic, young, multi-disciplinary and engaged research environment.
• Full-time PhD position starting as soon as possible; Salary according to collective loan agreement (Kollektivvertrag der Universitäten) and university guidelines for PhD projects.
Send your application directly to:
lukas.kenner@meduniwien.ac.at or brigitte.hantusch@meduniwien.ac.at
Further information: https://radnuk.meduniwien.ac.at/en/home/science-research/cdl-applied-metabolomics/mission/ |
