The Institut de Génomique Fonctionnelle de Lyon (IGFL) is a unique scientific environment. Teams investigate basic research questions at the interfaces of development, physiology and evolution. The main focus is integrative, organism-level research on animals.

We have an opening for an independent group leader (junior or established) and encourage talented scientists leading research falling within our scientific scope to apply. As we’re seeking to increase the number of women team leaders we will particularly welcome applications from women scientists.

The deadline to submit an application is 11 April, 2020.

More information is available here.

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SØG STILLINGEN/ APPLY ONLINE

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We are seeking a Postdoctoral Research Scientist to join research projects investigating the basis of neurodevelopmental disorders in the laboratory of Kristen Kroll at Washington University School of Medicine. We work in collaboration with Washington University’s Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center, (https://sites.wustl.edu/krolllab/cellular_models/), using directed differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells (embryonic stem cells and patient-derived induced pluripotent stem cells), mouse models, and a wide range of cellular, molecular, biochemical, and genomic approaches, to elucidate gene regulatory networks that control the specification and differentiation of specific human neuronal cell types, such as cortical interneurons. We are defining roles for transcriptional and epigenetic regulation in controlling these networks and identifying mechanisms by which their dysregulation contributes to neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism spectrum disorder and intellectual disability syndromes, and pediatric epilepsies. For additional information about our ongoing work and research interests, please see: https://sites.wustl.edu/krolllab/

Setting/Salary/Benefits:  Our laboratory is in an academic setting in the Department of Developmental Biology at Washington University School of Medicine (St. Louis), an internationally recognized research institution with a dynamic research environment and extensive infrastructural and core facility support. Postdoctoral appointees at Washington University receive a starting salary based on the NIH NRSA guidelines and a generous benefit package.

Complete information on the benefit package is located on the WUSM Human Resources Benefits Website (http://medschoolhr.wustl.edu). The St. Louis area combines the attractions of a major city with family-friendly and affordable lifestyle opportunities (https://explorestlouis.com/).

Qualifications: Candidates should hold a PhD with preference given to applicants with a strong interest in and research training relevant to the areas of neural development, stem cell biology, and transcriptional or epigenetic regulation. Interested candidates should send a CV/names of references by email to kkroll@wustl.edu or by regular mail to Kristen L. Kroll, Washington University School of Medicine, Campus Box 8103, 660 S. Euclid Ave, St. Louis, MO 63110.

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A PhD position is available in the lab of Fani Papagiannouli (@Medway School of Pharmacy, Universities of Kent and Greenwich) to study soma-germline communication and the role of cortical polarity in signaling regulation during Drosophila spermatogenesis. The position is funded by a Medway School of Pharmacy Post Graduate Research Scholarship. 

Stem cells are critical for multi-cellular development, since they supply the cells that build up our bodies and replenish, as we age, worn out, damaged, and diseased tissues. Stem cell therapies use the power of stem cells to generate treatment for medical diseases by replacing lost or damaged cells. Due to the high degree of conservation to humans, Drosophila has led ground-breaking discoveries in genetics, cell biology, human disease and stem cell-related processes.

Research in Papagiannouli’s lab focuses on understanding how the communication between the germline and the squamous somatic cyst cells encapsulating them is established and maintained, in particular how the somatic cyst cells support the developmental decision of the germline in the Drosophila testis (1).

You will be integrated in the lab of an enthusiastic investigator who will support you to develop the skills required for your career development. We will employ a highly innovative proximity biotinylation assay coupled to mass spectrometry, along with cutting-edge array-tomography with scanning electron microscopy (AT-SEM) to elucidate the basic principles of squamous epithelial cell function and cross-communication with the germline. Excellent training in state-of-art Drosophila genetics, histological and molecular approaches, innovative genomic and proteomic techniques and high-resolution microscopy (1, 2), will help you investigate key stem cell and germline organizing principles. Studying the relatively simple somatic cyst cells will provide insights on the underlying causes that drive human squamous epithelia to develop squamous cell carcinomas. The regulatory strategies uncovered here will unravel fundamental mechanisms of stem cell function beyond Drosophila and will aid the identification of new approaches in regenerative medicine and infertility.

You will be part of a dynamic working environment at Medway School of Pharmacy and the Universities of Kent and Greenwich at Medway Campus, and will have access to shared facilities such as advanced microscopy and proteomic tools. You will also work alongside our world-renowned collaborators from Stanford University and the University of Lausanne with complementing expertise.

We look for an enthusiastic, talented and motivated student with the ability to work both independently and as part of a team that can quickly integrate into an interdisciplinary environment. The successful candidate should have knowledge on basic molecular and protein work, however experience in confocal microscopy, immunohistochemistry, genome wide and proteomic techniques or Drosophila genetics would be an advantage. Excellent writing and communications skills in English are necessary.

1. Papagiannouli, C. W. Berry, M. T. Fuller (2019), The Dlg-module and clathrin-mediated endocytosis regulate EGFR signaling and cyst cell-germline coordination in the Drosophila testis, Stem Cell Reports, May 14, 12: 1-17 (doi.org/10.1016/j.stemcr.2019.03.008)
2. Papagiannouli, L. Schardt, J. Grajcarek, N. Ha, I. Lohmann (2014), The Hox gene Abd-B controls stem cell niche function in the Drosophila testis, Developmental Cell 28(2):189-202

For more details about the post visit: https://www.kent.ac.uk/scholarships/search/FN24SGCIDS01

To apply visit: https://www.msp.ac.uk/postgraduate/?course_id=785&course_level=postgraduate

Deadline for application is 31st of March 2020. The Scholarship is available to both UK and EU nationals. Self-funded applicants and those who have access to international scholarship applications, please contact directly Dr. Fani Papagiannouli (f.papagiannouli-227[at]kent.ac.uk).

For more information about the lab and the project visit our webpage: https://www.msp.ac.uk/person/fani-papagiannouli or contact f.papagiannouli-227[at]kent.ac.uk

As an equal opportunities institution we welcome applicants from all sections of the community regardless of gender, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation and transgender status. All appointments are made on merit.

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By Kristian Sjøgren for sciencenews.dk 

Imagine doctors in the near future being able to cultivate stem cells that turn into the insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas – and then implanting these in people with diabetes to replace their damaged beta cells and thus cure them.

This dream has just come a step closer, after researchers from DanStem have revealed how a signalling pathway that guides the development of the pancreas works.

The discovery means that researchers now understand much better what they need to do to cultivate insulin-producing beta cells in a petri dish with the goal of curing people with diabetes.

“The interesting perspective is to take fetal stem cells and direct them to become insulin-producing cells. This requires knowing how nature does this normally, and we have come a step closer to understanding this,” says Palle Serup, Professor, Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Stem Cell Biology, DanStem, University of Copenhagen.

The research was published recently in Developmental Cell.

Curing people with diabetes using home-grown beta cells

Phase 1 clinical trials around the world are already trying to cure people with diabetes by inserting laboratory-grown insulin-producing beta cells into people’s pancreases.

So far, the trials have been oriented towards ensuring that this procedure is safe, but the idea is to be able to cure the first people with type 1 diabetes within a few years.

Researchers from the Serup group are at the forefront of this, and leading researchers can also determine how to optimally improve the various procedures. This applies to the procedures the researchers use to develop the insulin-producing beta cells they implant in people.

The current laboratory-grown beta cells do not respond as well to glucose as they should, and the yield of the cultivation process is also relatively low.

“One reason is that we have not yet been able to fully replicate the natural process in the laboratory,” explains Palle Serup.

Current protocols do not exploit signalling pathways fully

Palle Serup and colleagues studied how the fetal pancreas develops. Many signalling pathways play a role in the process of inducing the stem cells to become the various cells of a pancreas.

These signalling pathways ensure that insulin-producing beta cells, blood vessels and the ducts that secrete digestive enzymes are produced where they are needed. The signalling pathways are communication tools between neighbouring cells, and the Notch signalling pathway that Palle Serup has now mapped is very important for the natural development of the pancreas.

“We did not know very much previously about this signalling pathway, and the protocols we use in cultivating pancreatic cells in the laboratory are therefore not very good at using the regulation of this pathway,” says Palle Serup.

Signal molecules oscillate

Notch has previously been linked to pancreatic development, and the new study explains this. The research shows that the concentration of the signal molecule DLL1 oscillates from high to low and back again, with a 45-minute interval per direction. Similarly, the oscillation activates the HES1 gene in the neighbouring cell, so the expression of this gene also begins to oscillate.

This is complicated, but Palle Serup’s research also shows that manipulating the oscillations causes the pancreas to grow more slowly. “This gives us insight into how the cells act when the pancreas is formed, and we have to recreate that activity in the petri dishes,” explains Palle Serup.

Several signal molecules guide pancreatic development

The research also shows that DLL1 is not alone in controlling pancreatic growth during fetal development. The signal molecule JAG1 also plays a role.

Both molecules target the same receptors on neighbouring cells, but DLL1 stimulates pancreatic growth by promoting cell division in neighbouring cells, whereas JAG1 inhibits growth.

JAG1 also plays a role in the paths the cells take in their development. All pancreatic cells originate from two small groups of stem cells that can develop into all the different types of pancreatic cells. During fetal development, cells develop in one direction or another. JAG1 influences the direction in which the cells develop.

When the researchers remove JAG1, too many cells develop towards cells that secrete digestive enzymes, and too few of the other types are formed. When JAG1 is present, a more appropriate number of the cells develop into insulin-producing beta cells.

To their surprise, the researchers could change the cell types by manipulating the oscillations. Attenuating the fluctuation in HES1 concentrations was equivalent to losing JAG1, whereas the opposite happened if the interval was increased from 45 to 60 minutes. “Our experiments showed that removing JAG1 or artificially inhibiting oscillations makes the pancreas develop almost no insulin-producing beta cells. This is important to know for growing pancreatic cells in the laboratory,” says Palle Serup.

Improving protocols for developing pancreatic cells

Palle Serup says that the researchers are already looking towards the next step in investigating the role of the signalling pathways in developing the pancreas. They want to confirm that these oscillations also occur in human pancreatic cells and not just in mice. Then they will investigate the extent to which they can manipulate the oscillations to control cell development.

Specifically, the researchers would like to accelerate the first cell divisions that lead to a fully developed pancreas. This will make the process in the laboratory more efficient when the cells divide more than they do today. Then the researchers will learn how to manipulate the individual steps in the process so that the finished product will resemble a natural pancreas as much as possible.

“Once the stem cells have become pancreatic cells, we need to determine whether we can make them divide more frequently and rapidly and become more normal types of cell compared with what is currently possible,” explains Palle Serup.

Discovery may also be relevant in cancer research

The research on pancreatic cells from mouse embryos also indicates new understanding of how pancreatic cancer develops. Pancreatic cancer is very rare, but the mortality rate is very high.

Researchers know from studies of people with cancer that the JAG1, DLL1 and HES1 signalling pathway is important in developing pancreatic cancer. This signalling pathway is shut down as the pancreas matures into adulthood, but among people with cancer, it is reactivated and causes uninhibited growth of cancer cells in the pancreas – and a hallmark of cancer cells is uncontrolled growth.

“Cancer may be caused by various mutations in components of this signalling pathway, and we have now begun collaborating with another researcher from the University of Copenhagen to try to understand how the signalling pathway specifically influences the development of pancreatic cancer. We do not know whether the oscillations play a role, but we will investigate these,” explains Palle Serup.

“Jag1 modulates an oscillatory Dll1-Notch-Hes1 signaling module to coordinate growth and fate of pancreatic progenitors” has been published in Developmental Cell. Palle Serup is Professor of Development Biology at the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Stem Cell Biology, DanStem, University of Copenhagen. The Novo Nordisk Foundation has awarded research grants of nearly DKK 700 million to DanStem from 2010 to 2017.

See more information about the Serup group

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Dear developmental biologists,

As editor-in-chief and executive editor of Knowable Magazine from Annual Reviews, we’re grateful for the invitation to write a post here at The Node about a special report on developmental biology — “Building Bodies” — that Knowable just published. We hope that the articles, written in accessible language, will intrigue and be of use to many of you.

Both of us started in research before taking a sideways step into journalism, and one of us (Rosie) became hooked on developmental biology early on: As a postdoc in the lab of UCLA and HHMI investigator Larry Zipursky in the late 1980s, she watched as the team there tracked down a key gene, bride-of-sevenless, involved in development of the Drosophila retina. (Her interest only grew after learning she had just one kidney, a developmental error that occurs in about one in 2,000 births.) It was a rare treat to fashion a package of dev bio articles all these years later. There were endless topics we could have chosen, and in the end we plumped for four in-depth feature articles focusing on body architecture topics:

• the growing appreciation of the importance of mechanical forces in shaping development;
• the latest understanding of how limbs regenerate in the axolotl and why we humans can’t manage the same trick, at least not yet;
• the science of tree architecture and some of the genetic tweaks that have been crucial in agriculture and horticulture;
• how branching tubes form in the body (when you start to think about it, a great many structures in our bodies consist of tubes with branches).

As another part of the report, we wanted to touch on some older, key experiments in developmental biology. We considered presenting them in just that manner (“five seminal experiments,” or somesuch). But in the end, we decided to pose five questions of the kind that experimenters often had in mind when they did their work, and ones that a curious child might ask. Why is my heart more on the left? Why does my arm come out at my shoulders and not down at my waist? We’re grateful for the time and thoughts of Stanford developmental biologist Dominique Bergmann as we decided which questions to pick (there are zillions, and we had to limit them to five!) and made sure that a couple touched on newer focuses, such as the nascent field of systems developmental biology and the growing interest in timing during development.

Anyone can republish these stories, either individually or as a package, if they follow some straightforward guidelines. We are proud of what we do, and the more eyes on our content, the happier that makes us! (Our current republishing partners include the Washington Post, Atlantic, Smithsonian and Scientific American.)

In addition, we very much hope that these stories might also prove useful as teaching aids, and with that in mind, we are preparing a PDF collection of them that are similarly free to obtain and use. Please contact Katie Fleeman (kfleeman@annualreviews.org) if you are interested.

Our “Building Bodies” report only begins to touch on the myriad lines of inquiry preoccupying developmental biologists today, and we hope that it offers a taste that will delight those in the know as well as members of the public. That includes people who never knew they were interested in developmental biology before they stumbled upon an article about it. Development is a theme we’ll continue to explore in future articles, comics, Q&As and multimedia content.

Finally, a bit more about Knowable Magazine. Annual Reviews, our nonprofit parent company, is well-known as the publisher of review articles on a broad range of academic topics. Its leaders are passionate about sharing established scholarly knowledge, and Knowable, which was launched in 2017, is one prong of its effort to do so. Our work is made possible by ongoing support from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, as well as initial support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. As with all of Knowable Magazine’s content, these articles are written by seasoned science journalists, many of whom got their start working in science labs as we did. The pieces are carefully fact-checked and copy-edited and are accompanied by attractive graphics — many of which are also free to re-use.

We put out new articles every week, and an easy way to see the latest is to sign up for our weekly newsletter or follow us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram.

Many thanks for reading!

Eva Emerson, editor-in-chief of Knowable Magazine (@evaemersonAR)

Rosie Mestel, executive editor (@RosieMestel)

The Node will be republishing the Knowable Building Bodies series, starting from tomorrow

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Kat Arney talks with geneticist and author Dr Adam Rutherford about his new book, How to Argue With a Racist, which explores how modern genetics and old-fashioned eugenic pseudoscience are misused in pursuit of harmful political agendas.

The human evolutionary family tree isn’t a straightforward linear progression from ancient ape to modern human, but a complex, tangled web of interrelated – and interbreeding – species. People don’t stay in one place, and they aren’t always picky when it comes to picking a mate. Add up the effects over thousands and thousands of years, and it’s easy to see why trying to understand and compare the genetics of modern populations in different parts of the world is a challenging task.

The truth is that the more we study human populations on a genomic level, the more diversity we find. But we should be on guard against those who would wish to crudely slice this rich and complex tapestry of global human genetics for political ends.

We also hear from UCLA graduate student Arun Durvasula about his work searching for genetic ‘ghosts’ – the remnants of mysterious species from our past that live on within our DNA today, making up around 11 per cent of the modern human genome.

Finally, we chat to Daniel Khosravinia, a graduate student at King’s College London who has designed a Lego model depicting the discovery of the structure of DNA, complete with minifigures of Maurice Wilkins, Rosalind Franklin, James Watson and Francis Crick. If he receives 10,000 votes for his design, then it has a chance of becoming a commercially available kit.  You can find out more and cast your vote on the Lego Ideas website. 

Go to GeneticsUnzipped.com to listen or download and to get a full transcript, links and references.

Genetics Unzipped is the podcast from The Genetics Society. Subscribe from Apple podcasts/iTunes, Spotify and all good podcast apps to make sure you get the latest episodes and catch up on our back catalogue.

If you enjoy the show, please do rate and review on Apple podcasts and help to spread the word on social media. And you can always send feedback and suggestions for future episodes and guests to podcast@geneticsunzipped.com Follow us on Twitter – @geneticsunzip

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By Lisandro Maya-Ramos and Takashi Mikawa

Bilaterality, the property of having two symmetrical sides, is widely conserved among animals. It is estimated that 99% of all animal species are bilaterians, with the remaining 1% composed by sponges and radial animals, which lack or have radial symmetry respectively (1).  Although bilaterality is widespread among animals, little is known about how it is developmental patterned or shaped.

Observations from naturally occurring gynandromorphs such as birds, lobsters and butterflies (to name a few) suggest that cells from left and right sides remain on their own (ipsilateral) side, with little mixing seen through out life (2). In these animals the right and left sides, which have different phenotypic colors, meet at the body midline without crossing to the contralateral side. In fact, a similar phenomenon has been reported in humans: in a clinical case-report, a patient was found to have an ovary on the left side and a testicle on the right side, and further karyotyping of skin fibroblasts revealed XX sex chromosomes on left side and XY on the right (3). This information hints at the presence of mechanisms ensuring the patterning of ipsilaterality during development.

In the case of amniotes, this is particularly intriguing given that in early body patterning (gastrulation), cells undergo epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) and these cells are known to be highly invasive (4). Therefore in the recent publication Maya-Ramos and Mikawa (5), we addressed the question of how is ipsilaterality patterned during amniote gastrulation. This question was best addressed using the chick embryo, given its long-standing history as a model system in gastrulation, its handling, easy accessibility, high temporal and spatial transfection control parameters and live imaging robustness.

Our results demonstrated that ipsilaterality is patterned during gastrulation; that is, right epiblast cells undergoing EMT gave rise to right mesoendodermal cells while left epiblast cells resulted in left mesoendodermal cells. Epiblast cells undergoing EMT seldom crossed the embryonic midline. These findings are consistent with the observations of bilateral gynandromorphs and human clinical case reports, and argue that left and right sides in bilaterians are established early in development.

We found that the mechanism preventing cellular mixing was at the primitive streak (PS) midline. The PS midline was cellularly and molecularly distinct from PS lateral cells, as it was enriched with both extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins and programmed cell death (PCD). The origin of PS midline cells undergoing PCD was traced to a unique posterior embryonic region, embedded within the early PS. ECM and PCD loss of function resulted in crossing of the embryonic midline to the contralateral side. However, ipsilateral gastrulation was only restored with exogenous PCD.

These results highlight two key points. One is that PCD serves as a signal that prevents cell migration – this gives PCD a positive functional role in development. It is still unclear, however, what is the mechanism by which PCD prevents contralateral migration, for instance whether steps leading to PCD or the persisting cellular debris is responsible for this phenotype. Lingering cellular debris leading to intracellular content release has being associated with pathological processes, including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (6-8). Therefore, is not inconceivable that these same signals may take on a physiological role in development.

Second, these results suggest that ipsilaterality is programmed within bilaterality and that upstream signals are in place to specify PS midline cells before they undergo PCD. Therefore a persisting question is, how is the midline defined?

References

1. M. Q. Martindale, J. R. Finnerty, J. Q. Henry, The Radiata and the evolutionary origins of the bilaterian body plan. Mol Phylogenet Evol 24, 358-365 (2002).
2. S. Aw, M. Levin, What’s left in asymmetry? Dev Dyn 237, 3453-3463 (2008).
3. S. M. Gartler, S. H. Waxman, E. Giblett, An XX/XY human hermaphrodite resulting from double fertilization. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 48, 332-335 (1962).
4. J. P. Thiery, H. Acloque, R. Y. Huang, M. A. Nieto, Epithelial-mesenchymal transitions in development and disease. Cell 139, 871-890 (2009).
5. L. Maya-Ramos, T. Mikawa, Programmed cell death along the midline axis patterns ipsilaterality in gastrulation. Science 367, 197-200 (2020).
6. R. Hanayama et al., Autoimmune disease and impaired uptake of apoptotic cells in MFG-E8-deficient mice. Science 304, 1147-1150 (2004).
7. S. Nagata, R. Hanayama, K. Kawane, Autoimmunity and the clearance of dead cells. Cell 140, 619-630 (2010).
8. K. S. Ravichandran, Find-me and eat-me signals in apoptotic cell clearance: progress and conundrums. J Exp Med 207, 1807-1817 (2010).

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Department/Location: Wellcome Trust – Medical Research Council Cambridge Stem Cell Institute, CAMBRIDGE

Salary: £26,715 – £30,942 or £32,816 – £40,322

Reference: PS22234

Category: Research

Published: 23 January 2020

Closing date: 20 February 2020

The Wellcome – MRC Cambridge Stem Cell Institute is an international centre of excellence for stem cell research and regenerative medicine. Scientists in the Institute collaborate to advance our knowledge of various stem cell types and to perform pioneering work in translational research areas, providing the foundation for new medical treatments (https://www.stemcells.cam.ac.uk/).

The Living Systems Institute (LSI) pioneers transformative science to engineer control of complex biological systems. LSI merges research in biology and medicine with ground breaking physical sciences technologies and powerful mathematical modelling capabilities. https://www.exeter.ac.uk/livingsystems

A post is open for a Research Assistant/Associate bioinformatician in the laboratory of Professor Austin Smith to work on an ERC Advanced Grant project on Plasticity of the Pluripotency Network (PLASTINET). You will contribute to analyses of the fundamental biology of pluripotency and pluripotent stem cells in different mammals. The laboratory is currently based in the Wellcome-MRC Cambridge Stem Cell Institute https://www.stemcells.cam.ac.uk/People/pi/smith and will relocate to the Living Systems Institute, University of Exeter, in July 2020 https://www.exeter.ac.uk/livingsystems/.

Research assistant candidates should have an MSc or equivalent in Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, Systems Biology or related subject. Research Associate candidates should have a PhD or equivalent research doctorate in computational biology or bioinformatics.

You will develop and implement algorithms, analysis methods and visualisation tools for dissecting multi-omics datasets. In particular, you will use scRNAseq, ChIPseq and ATAC-seq data in order to elucidate the regulatory networks governing pluripotency and undertake comparisons across species. You will also be encouraged to develop new analyses within the group’s field of interest.

Candidates will have proven capacity to understand and execute high-throughput data analysis, and should be familiar with a UNIX/Linux environment and programming/scripting language (Python, R, Matlab). General knowledge of molecular cell biology and experience in sequencing analysis will be beneficial. Specific training and support will be provided as needed.

Good communication skills and the ability to work effectively in a team are essential. This post will transfer to the University of Exeter in July 2020.

Research Assistant salary range £26,715-£30,942; Research Associate salary range £32,816-£40,322, depending on experience and qualification.

Fixed-term: The funds for this post are available for 3 years in the first instance.

To apply for this post please follow this link: http://www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/24910/. Click the ‘Apply’ button on Job Opportunitues to register an account with the Cambridge University recruitment system (if you have not already) and apply online.

The closing date is 20 February 2020, with interviews to be confirmed.

Please ensure that you upload a covering letter and CV in the Upload section of the online application. If you upload any additional documents which have not been requested, we will not be able to consider these as part of your application.

Please include details of your referees, one of whom must be your most recent line manager, with email address and phone number.

Please quote reference PS22234 on your application and in any correspondence about this vacancy.

The University actively supports equality, diversity and inclusion and encourages applications from all sections of society.

The University has a responsibility to ensure that all employees are eligible to live and work in the UK.

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We are looking for highly motivated individuals who share our passion for science and would like to work in a friendly and collaborative environment.

Fully funded PhD student and Postdoc positions are available in the laboratory of Dr. Peng Huang in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biologyat the University of Calgary, Canada.We use zebrafish as a model system to understand how tissue patterning is achieved and how tissue integrity is maintained. We study the spinal cord patterning to understand how different cell signaling pathways (Hedgehog and Notch signaling) interact during cell fate specification. We also study how non-muscle cells (e.g., tendon fibroblasts and muscle progenitor cells) contribute to muscle development, degeneration and regeneration. For more information about the lab and our recent publications, please visit: https://people.ucalgary.ca/~huangp/index.html

PhD student candidates should have a BS or MSc in Molecular Biology, Genetics, Developmental Biology or a related discipline, a strong academic background, good English skills and an enthusiasm for research. Previous lab experience with genetic model organisms is preferred but not required. Excellent written and verbal communication skills are critical.

Postdoc candidates should have a PhD in Developmental Genetics or a related discipline, excellent molecular biology skills, and a strong interest in developmental biology. Excellent written and verbal communication skills are critical. The candidate must have a track record of academic success as evidenced by peer-reviewed publications, awards and scholarships.

To apply, please send a cover letter summarizing previous research experiences and future goals and the CV with names of 2-3 references to Peng Huang, peng.huang@gmail.com with the subject line “PhD Student Position” or “Postdoc Position”.

Calgary, Canada’s fastest growing major city, is vibrant and multicultural with a population of more than 1.2 million. Situated near the Rocky Mountains, Banff National Park and Lake Louise, Calgary offers great quality of life and outstanding recreational activities.

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