Full-time postdoctoral positions are available in the Galloway lab in the field of stem cells and regenerative biology with a focus on musculoskeletal biology. The Galloway laboratory aims to understand the genetic pathways regulating tendon development and repair with the goal of designing therapies for age-related degeneration and injury. Our current projects use genomic approaches combined with zebrafish, mouse, and stem cell models to understand the pathways involved in tendon development, regeneration, and repair.
The position provides an exciting opportunity to work at the interface of basic and translational research in a collaborative and stimulating environment at the Center for Regenerative Medicine and the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at MGH, Harvard Stem Cell Institute, and the Harvard Medical School community.
Applicants with a strong background in genetics, developmental biology, and molecular biology are encouraged to apply. Bioinformatics experience is preferred.
For more information, visit our lab website (http://gallowaylab.mgh.harvard.edu/). Interested candidates should submit a CV, brief description of research experience, and names and contact information for three references to Dr. Jenna Galloway at jenna_galloway@hms.harvard.edu.
Increasing numbers of biologists are becoming reluctant to travel to conferences due to concerns about climate change. We aim to partner with other organisations to develop resources for sustainable conferencing. Please help us by completing this very short poll:
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Professor Kate Storey, University of Dundee
Dr Sally Lowell, University of Edinburgh, Meetings Secretary for the British Society for Developmental Biology
The Semb group is looking for a postdoctoral candidate with a strong developmental biology/cellular mechanobiology and/or a biological image processing background to identify and study novel cell and molecular mechanisms predicting the differentiation of bi-potent progenitors in the developing pancreas.
During organogenesis fate-determining cues are generated by dynamic interactions between stem cells/progenitors, their progenies and the cellular environment. We are looking for a postdoctoral candidate with a strong developmental biology/ cellular mechanobiology background and/or a biological image processing background to identify cellular fate determining cues and their mechanism of action in the developing pancreas. This exciting project will use a combination of high-resolution confocal live imaging and machine learning to identify potential regulators of pancreatic fate. The successful candidate will work closely with a biophysicist and a live imaging specialist already in the lab. The research project will also involve collaboration with a team of computer scientist and a team of researchers developing novel spatial transcriptomic techniques. The employment is planned to start 1 April 2020 or upon agreement with the chosen candidate.
Background:
The Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Stem Cell Biology – DanStem has been established as a result of a series of international recruitments coupled with internationally recognized research groups focused on insulin producing beta cells and cancer research already located at the University of Copenhagen. DanStem addresses basic research questions in stem cell and developmental biology and has activities focused on the translation of promising basic research results into new strategies and targets for the development of new therapies for cancer and chronic diseases such as diabetes and liver failure. Find more information about the Center at http://danstem.ku.dk/.
Job Description:
We are looking for a postdoctoral candidate with a strong developmental biology/cellular mechanobiology and/or a biological image processing background to identify and study novel cell and molecular mechanisms predicting the differentiation of bi-potent progenitors in the developing pancreas. The candidate is expected to use both in vivo (mouse) and in vitro (human pluripotent stem cells) experimental models to address hypothesis lead research questions. Whilst the aim of the project is to identify regulators of cell fate in an unbiased manner, the researcher will also pursue ‘candidate’ regulators identified from the labs recent publications. The position is for 2 years with possible extension.
Qualifications:
The candidate is required to hold a PhD degree in stem cell/developmental/cell biology/biological image processing. A few years of postdoctoral experience in the same areas is a merit.
A candidate with biological background should also have hands on experience in mouse genetics, micro dissection of mouse embryonic organs, human pluripotent stem cell culture and differentiation, live-cell imaging, quantitative image analysis.
A candidate with image processing background should have experience with segmentation and tracking in large 3D datasets as well as experience in the biological techniques described above.
The candidate must want to work closely with other postdocs in an interdisciplinary team where good communications skills are key.
Finally, we are looking for applicants with a good record of peer reviewed scientific publications and grant writing skills.
Terms of employment:
The employment is planned to start 1 April 2020 or upon agreement with the chosen candidate.
The terms of employment are set according to the Agreement between the Ministry of Finance and The Danish Confederation of Professional Associations or other relevant professional organization. The position will be at the level of postdoctoral fellow and the basic salary according to seniority. Currently, the salary starts at 34.360 DKK/approx. 4,.590 Euro (October 2019-level). A supplement could be negotiated, dependent on the candidate´s experiences and qualifications. In addition a monthly contribution of 17.1% of the salary is paid into a pension fund.
Non-Danish and Danish applicants may be eligible for tax reductions, if they hold a PhD degree and have not lived in Denmark the last 10 years.
The position is covered by the “Memorandum on Job Structure for Academic Staff at the Universities” of June 28, 2013.
Questions:
For further information contact Professor Henrik Semb, henrik.semb@sund.ku.dk.
Foreign applicants may find the following links useful: www.ism.ku.dk (International Staff Mobility) and www.workingconditions.ku.dk.
Application Instruction:
The application must be submitted in English, by clicking on “Apply online” below. Only online applications will be accepted.
The application must include:
Cover letter detailing the basis on which the applicant scientific qualifications meet the requirements for this position.
Curriculum vitae.
List of references (full address, incl. email and phone number)
Diplomas – all relevant certificates.
List of publications.
Deadline for applications is 15 February 2020, 23.59pm.
The further process:
After the expiry of the deadline for applications, the authorized recruitment manager selects applicants for assessment on the advice of the Appointments Committee. All applicants are then immediately notified whether their application has been passed for assessment by an expert assessment committee. Selected applicants are notified of the composition of the committee and each applicant has the opportunity to comment on his/her assessment. You may read about the recruitment process at http://employment.ku.dk.
The applicant will be assessed according to the Ministerial Order no. 242 of 13 March 2012 on the Appointment of Academic Staff at Universities.
University of Copenhagen wish to reflect the diversity of society and welcome applications from all qualified candidates regardless of age, disability, gender, nationality, race, religion or sexual orientation. Appointment will be based on merit alone.
Review Commons is a new publishing platform from ASAPbio and EMBO providing independent peer review before journal submission. According to the homepage it will
“provide authors with a Refereed Preprint, which includes the authors’ manuscript, reports from a single round of peer review and the authors’ response, [and] facilitate author-directed submission of Refereed Preprints to affiliate journals to expedite editorial consideration, reduce serial re-review and streamline publication.”
Here’s a handy diagram from the site:
Of the 17 affiliate journals, four are published by The Company of Biologists – Development, Journal of Cell Science, Biology Open and Disease Models and Mechanisms. It seems an exciting publishing experiment: feel free to leave a comment to let us know what you think about it!
See Bernd Pulverer and Thoman Lemberger’s Editorial in The EMBO Journal for more background:
We are seeking a motivated Research Fellow to join the Forrester Group at the Centre for Regenerative Medicine. This 3-year MRC funded project aims to study the molecular components associated with the erythroid island niche in normal and abnormal erythropoiesis. It follows on from our development of an in vitro model of the human erythroid island niche using iPSCs (PMID: 30787325).
The project involves collaboration with Profs Jan Frayne (University of Bristol) and Gavin Wright (Sanger Institute in Cambridge).
A good background in cell biology and some experience in cell culture, molecular biology and bioinformatics is desirable.
More information is available at University of Edinburgh Academic Vacancies (Ref: 050500).
Please contact L.Forrester@ed.ac.uk for more details and/or informal discussion.
The Blanchoud lab (University of Fribourg) and the Tiozzo lab (CNRS, Sorbonne University) are offering one year SNF funded post-doc position on a project that aims to survey horizontal gene transfers in Tunicates, the sister group of vertebrates. In particular, the candidate will perform a coherent and integrated analysis of all currently available genomic, transcriptomic and proteomic data to estimate the extent of functional foreign genetic material and their potential role in these marine chordates.
We are looking for a highly motivated bioinformatician with the following qualifications:
PhD degree in Bioinformatics, Computer Science, or a related field
Strong experience in the development of bioinformatic analysis workflows
Proficiency in suitable programming languages (e.g. Python, R)
Familiarity with HPC systems
Background in evolutionary biology and/or biochemistry would be a plus but is not required
The successful candidate will start at the latest by February 15th 2020, for a duration of 12 months. The project will be mainly held in Fribourg (Switzerland). However, short-term mobility to Villefranche-sur-Mer (France) will be considered.
Please submit your letter of interest, CV, references, and a relevant sample of code by email to Simon Blanchoud (simon.blanchoud@unifr.ch) and/or Stefano Tiozzo (tiozzo@obs-vlfr.fr).
3 year-POSTDOC + Starting grant (OPENING-SOON BEATRIU de PINOS program) to join our lab on EvoDevoGenomics in BARCELONA
We are seeking candidates to join our lab to study our favorite chordate model Oikopleura dioica, in which we are currently interested in chordate development, specially heart and muscle, and the impact of gene loss on the evolution of gene regulatory signalling networks. Click here for a tour “A day in our lab” posted in The Node
We have also engaged a new EcoEvoDevo line investigating if the developmental mechanisms of marine embryos are ready to respond to climate change, including biotoxins derived from algal blooms. Click here for a tour on this new EcoEvoDevo adventure.
Our approaches include single-cell RNAseq, Embryo microinjection, RNAi, Confocal-Microscopy, Bioinformatics and soon CRISPR
DEADLINE call: February 3rd 2020 (contact for enquiries as soon as possible canestro@ub.edu)
REQUIREMENT: to have defended the PhD within the period January 1st 2012 – December 31st 2017; 2-years of postdoctoral experience; less than 12 months living in Spain the last 3 years.
DURATION: 3 years: starting not later than February 2021 (to be confirmed)
FUNDING: 132.300€ total gross salary for 3 years + 12.000€ research funds
CONTACT: Interested candidates, please send an email to Cristian Cañestro (canestro@ub.edu), including a brief letter of interest, a brief CV, including list of publications with their impact and quartile, and technical skills (specially those related with our approaches) all together in ONE single pdf file.
The discipline “Evo-devo” studies the developmental basis of morphological evolution. In the field, some original animal models are emerging as interesting model organisms, enriching the knowledge in the field more and more.
In the DECA team (Développement et évolution du cerveau antérieur, in French) we use an Evo-devo approach to study the developmental mechanisms responsible for brain evolution. Adaptation to new environments brings along changes in brain morphology and function, and these changes are more striking in organisms adapted to extreme environments. A beautiful example that illustrates this topic is the model species used in our lab, the Mexican fish Astyanax mexicanus (teleost). Within the same species there are several river-dwelling populations (surface fish) and other populations adapted to caves (cavefish), living in absolute darkness. Evolution in the caves have led to the total loss of eyes and pigmentation, similarly to many other cave organisms. Since the cavefish embryos initially develop a small eye primordium that then degenerates at larval stages, Astyanax mexicanus has become an attractive model to study the genetic and developmental causes of eyes loss and the mechanisms of sensory compensation.
Figure 1.- Adult cavefish and surface fish morphotypes of Astyanax mexicanus (top left and right, respectively). Chica cave (bottom left) and Micos river (bottom right) in Mexico.
In our lab some hypotheses have been tested in order to explain the regression of the eyes in cavefish, including modifications of midline signaling centers important for eye induction, or “trade-offs” within the neural plate between the eye field and other neural tissues.
Recently we started to wonder how early in embryogenesis we were able to find differences between the two eco-morphotypes. We decided to compare the process of gastrulation in the two Astyanax morphs, to look at the establishment of the axial signaling centers important for brain development. By comparing systematically the expression of key genes involved in gastrulation we found important heterochronic differences in terms of internalization and migration of the precursors of axial mesoderm, the embryonic organizer. At this point we were very proud of ourselves, because we were able to discriminate between surface fish and cavefish embryos already at the onset of gastrulation, just by looking at in situ hybridizations.
We realized that at the end of gastrulation the anterior axial mesoderm, also called prechordal plate, was different in several aspects, particularly when we looked at the expression of dkk1b (an inhibitor of the WNT pathway). In cavefish embryos, expression of dkk1b occurs in cells that were more dispersed than in surface fish, with lower levels of transcripts and with an earlier off-set of expression, suggesting a globally reduced repression of WNT compared to the surface morphotype. In vertebrates, WNT repression is fundamental for the normal development of the forebrain, including the eyes. Through functional test we showed that modified WNT modulation is indeed implicated in the cavefish eye phenotype.
Next, we reasoned that if at the onset of gastrulation there is already a morphotype-specific embryonic patterning, there might be something different even before this step. Since embryogenesis before gastrulation, including the induction of the organizer, is controlled by determinants present in the oocyte before fertilization occurs, we made the hypothesis that differences from gastrulation onwards are could be due to modified synthesis of maternal determinants. Thus we decided to compare through RNAseq the transcriptomes in embryos just after fertilization, when only maternally-provided mRNAs are present (maternal transcriptomes). When we got the first results we were quite surprised: more than 30% of the maternally-expressed genes were differentially expressed in the two morphs, and around 6600 different loci were de-regulated!
Figure 2.- Schematic diagram of Astyanax mexicanus embryonic development (top). From left to right: 2 cell stage, onset of gastrulation, mid-gastrulation, tailbud, somitogenesis, hatched larvae. Comparative analyses during Astyanax mexicanus embryogenesis (bottom). From left to right: volcano plot showing the distribution of differentially expressed genes relative to cavefish, downregulated in blue, upregulated in red (first panel), expression of dkk1b during gastrulation (second panel), expression of dkk1b at the end of gastrulation and somitogenesis (third panel), expression of hcrt in the hypothalamus at 24hpf and pax2a in the optic fissure at 48hpf (fourth panel, top and bottom respectively).
Then of course we wanted to test the maternal contribution to the cavefish phenotypic evolution. One of the greatest advantages of Astyanax mexicanus as a model is the interfertility between the different populations. In fact, in nature there are some geographic spots where hybridization of cave and river populations occurs nowadays. This unique feature allowed us to test the maternal contribution to a given phenotype by comparing F1 hybrids obtained by reciprocal crosses (hybrids obtained from surface fish eggs versus hybrids obtained from cavefish eggs). If the phenotype under study in the hybrids resembles the phenotype of the female morphotype, then we can say that there is a maternal effect on that trait. The results obtained here were also striking. We found that the patterns of gene expression in hybrids up to the end of gastrulation were exactly the same as those of their maternal morph. These results show first, that the morphotype-specific pattern of gastrulation is determined by maternal factors, and second, that maternal determinants influence embryonic development until stages much later than the maternal-to-zygotic transition.
After gastrulation, as development continues, all phenotypes analyzed became progressively similar between the reciprocal hybrids, and intermediate between the two pure eco-morphotypes. However, some of these morphotype-specific phenotypes at larval stages (hypothalamic patterning and eye regionalization) showed clear differences in the reciprocal hybrids, with a tendency towards the maternal morphs. This indicates that, when the zygotic genome (in a hybrid condition) takes over the control of development, it tends to homogenize the phenotypes, making less clear the full maternal effect observed at earlier stages.
Figure 3.- Schematic diagram of the crosses performed to test the maternal effect (first row). Expression of dkk1b at 50% epiboly (second row), expression of notail at 70% epiboly (third row) and expression of pax2a at 48hpf (fourth row).
Our work provided clear evidence that changes in the composition of the oocytes can modify the developmental trajectories, thereby contributing to phenotypic evolution. In this sense, the maternal transcriptome could react under specific environmental conditions, modifying subsequent interdependent developmental events, leading finally to a particular phenotypic outcome, in a way similar to a domino effect.
This work offers a new field for us to dig in. There are some questions we started to ask ourselves, for example could maternal genes be under selective pressure? Which mechanisms could account for their regulation within the ovary? How different is the maternal-to-zygotic transition in Astyanax morphs?
Research done by Jorge Torres-Paz, Julien Leclercq and Sylvie Rétaux at the Paris-Saclay Institute of Neuroscience, CNRS UMR9197, Université Paris-Sud, Université Paris-Saclay, France.
Due to the Coronavirus, Translational Immunology and the satellite BIS meeting were postponed from 26-27 March 2020 to the end of the year. We are happy to confirm the new date: 8-9 December 2020.
The aim of this conference is to bridge the translational gap in immunopathology, bringing together clinicians, research scientists and industry partners to discuss prominent advances from the bench to the clinicimmune The different sessions will have a particular focus on precision medicine in general, starting from disease-oriented cases and lessons learned. Innovative and alternative therapeutic strategies in immune-mediated disorders will be presented, besides the regulatory challenges that companies and researchers are dealing with.
Deadlines:
Abstract submission: 5 October 2020
Early Bird deadline: 27 October 2020
Late Registration deadline: 24 November 2020
Speakers:
Rosa Bacchetta- Stanford Medicine, US
Dirk Elewaut- VIB-UGent Center for Inflammation Research, BE
Alain Fischer – Assistance publique – Hôpitaux de Paris, FR
Martin Guilliams – VIB-UGent Center for Inflammation Research, BE
Pleun Hombrink – Sanquin, NL
Bengt Hoepken – Clinical Program Director, UCB Pharma, DE
Isabelle Huys – KU Leuven, BE
Christophe Lahorte – National Innovation Office & Scientific-Technical Advice Unit – (Famhp), BE
Bart Lambrecht – VIB-UGent Center for Inflammation Research, BE
Antonio Lanzavecchia – Institute for Research in Biomedicine, CH
Sophie Lucas – de Duve Institute, UCLouvain, BE
Bénédicte Machiels – FARAH Center, ULiège, BE
Melanie Matheu – CEO, Founder at Prellis Biologics, Inc., US
Massimiliano Mazzone – VIB-KU Leuven Center for Cancer Biology, BE
Kathy McCoy – University of Calgary, CA
Eoin McKinney – University of Cambridge, UK
Fiona Powrie – Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology, University of Oxford, UK
Federica Sallusto – Institute for Research in Biomedicine, CH
Georg Schett – Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg, DE
Marvin van Luijn – Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam MS Center ErasMS, NL
Suzanne Eaton, Professor at the Technical University Dresden and Group Leader at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics in Dresden, tragically died on 2 July 2019. Suzanne was a remarkable person, both as a scientist and as a human being. Having worked closely with Suzanne for many years, I remember here some of her key scientific contributions.
Suzanne truly loved science and was driven by a deep curiosity for nature. She was an exceptional scientist with a taste for profound and fundamental problems in biology, and she embraced novel, original and interdisciplinary approaches. Indeed, Suzanne was a pioneer in quantitative approaches to tissue morphogenesis and a leader in the field, bridging scales from cell biology to tissue dynamics. With her fast wit and broad knowledge, she inspired colleagues, co-workers and students alike. Working with her was always a joyful experience, playful and deeply enlightening. Suzanne was also a sophisticated piano player and she had a black belt in Taekwondo. As one of Suzanne’s close collaborators over the past 15 years, it has been a true privilege for me to have interacted with her on a number of exciting problems and to have had weekly joint group meetings with a broad and interdisciplinary spirit.
Born in Oakland, California, Suzanne did her PhD at UCLA in the group of Kathryn Calame. During her PhD, Suzanne worked on the transcriptional regulation of immunoglobulin heavy chain genes (Eaton and Calame, 1987). She then moved to the lab of Tom Kornberg at UCSF, where she worked on the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster and began to investigate fundamental aspects of Hedgehog signalling. Suzanne discovered that Hedgehog is a membrane-associated signalling molecule and that its expression is confined to posterior compartment cells (Tabata et al., 1992). In 1993, Suzanne moved to EMBL in Heidelberg to the lab of Kai Simons. There, she investigated planar cell polarity in epithelial tissues and revealed how Rho family GTPases play a role in polarizing the actin cytoskeleton and regulating cell shape changes in the fly wing epithelium (Eaton et al., 1995).
In 2000, Suzanne moved to Dresden to help set up the newly founded Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics. In this environment, her research flourished as she became a leader in a new field that brought together cell and developmental biology. She was curious about how morphogens such as Hedgehog and Wnt/Wingless that spread in a tissue over distances could be found tightly associated with membranes. She discovered that these morphogens travel while associated with membranous particles, which move between cells and act as vehicles for morphogen transport (Greco et al., 2001). She further established that these membranous particles are lipoprotein particles (Panáková et al. 2005).
Suzanne then became fascinated by the geometry of cell packing, which appears to be random but at the same time exhibits different types of order and structural features. She thus investigated the mechanisms that govern cell neighbour numbers and the establishment of hexagonal packing in epithelia, revealing a role for planar cell polarity proteins in this process (Classen et al., 2005). This interest in cell packing geometries and cell polarity patterns triggered stimulating discussions about the role of forces and cell mechanics in morphogenesis, which in turn brought about a fruitful, long-lasting and inspiring collaboration between our research groups. A first step in this collaboration was the development of vertex models that capture the forces that define cell shapes. By comparing experiment and theory, key parameters that characterize biophysical properties of cells could be inferred and a general mechanism for the emergence of hexagonal cell packing was identified (Farhadifar et al., 2007). Live imaging over extended periods of time then permitted Suzanne to quantify cell movements, cell flow patterns and dynamic patterns of planar cell polarity over time during Drosophila pupal development. These observations revealed that planar cell polarity patterns in the tissue are reoriented by cell flow and tissue shear. This provided new insights into the role of cell flow in shaping patterns during morphogenesis (Aigouy et al., 2010). Looking at cell polarity patterns at early and late time points in the wing imaginal disc revealed how planar cell polarity patterns that are aligned over large distances could emerge in a tissue. At early time points, cell polarity is oriented in random directions. Groups of cells then locally align their polarity with the help of signals at compartment boundaries, while the tissue is still small. This aligned pattern is then extended over larger scales by tissue growth (Sagner et al., 2012).
Another key question that Suzanne addressed is how the fly wing takes on its final shape. Interestingly, mutants of the protein Dumpy, which links the tissue to the extracellular matrix, exhibit strongly misformed wings. Live imaging of wing development in dumpy mutants revealed that mechanical attachments at the tissue margin have a direct and strong influence on final tissue shape. It was shown that the wing is shaped inside the pupa by an active mechanical process that involves tissue contraction and tissue flow, which depend on patterns of mechanical boundary attachments (Etournay et al., 2015).
Suzanne’s discovery that signalling molecules such as Hedgehog are transported over distances by lipoprotein particles, which are also carriers of lipids, led her to bridge the field of morphogenesis with that of metabolism. She therefore started a research programme to investigate metabolic regulation and the complex interplay between metabolism, growth and development. She discovered that Drosophila lipoproteins generated in the fat body (a structure playing a role similar to that of the liver) provide signals about the nutritional status of the organism that are sent to the brain where they accumulate. In the brain, in turn, insulin-like peptides are secreted to regulate insulin signalling. Surprisingly, lipoproteins accumulate in the brain if the fly is on a yeast diet but not when it is on a plant-based diet. In this case, flies develop and grow more slowly, and live longer, as a consequence of different insulin signalling despite the calorimetric food content being the same. This work thus provided fascinating insights into the regulation of metabolism under varying diets (Brankatschk et al., 2014).
What could be the adaptive roles of different diets? In a very beautiful paper, Suzanne and her team investigated the effects of plant food compared with yeast food on the survival of Drosophila larvae and adults at different temperatures (Brankatschk et al., 2018). They showed that whereas flies growing in warm temperatures prefer yeast food, they prefer plant food when they are maintained at cold temperatures. Furthermore, flies on a plant diet can survive cold temperatures at which flies that are kept on a yeast diet will die. Thus, the choice of the appropriate food is important for survival during winter periods in temperate climates. A key difference between plant and yeast food is the ability of plants to produce polyunsaturated fatty acids. Suzanne and colleagues showed that the difference in diet leads to different lipid composition of membranes. Membranes of larvae on a plant diet maintain fluid properties and exhibit disordered membrane organization at lower temperatures, suggesting that these membrane biophysical properties are modulated by nutrition and are important for survival in the cold.
Remembering her contributions reveals the immense breadth of Suzanne’s work and her ability to bridge different fields and disciplines when addressing important questions in biology. Her work is characterized by very original and deep studies using strong quantitative approaches. She always looked at fundamental problems from new angles and thus made important and surprising discoveries. Her loss leaves a gaping void, and her sharp intellect and warm personality are missed tremendously.
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