Posted by Michalis Averof, on 15 July 2019
Closing Date: 15 March 2021
Marie Curie fellowship to develop ATAC-seq in Parhyale and study genome-wide regulatory responses during leg regeneration. Project supported by the Marie Curie EvoCell network. euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/425603
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Posted by Anna Philpott, on 12 July 2019
Closing Date: 15 March 2021
A post-doctoral position is available to study transcriptional regulation of lineage fidelity during fate specification and differentiation of ES cells. This project focuses on uncovering epigenetic and co-factor-dependent mechanisms underlying these processes.
The Philpott lab has broad interests in understanding the fundamental mechanisms that determine cell fate choice and differentiation during embryonic development and in cancers, as well as how these processes are co-ordinated with cell cycle progression.
Within the laboratory, we use several experimental systems including mammalian embryonic stem cells, cancer cell culture, organoid systems as well as embryos of the frog Xenopus. We use many techniques including genome-wide analysis of gene expression in single and multiple cells, chromatin binding and accessibility studies and crispr genome editing, alongside diverse biochemical approaches.
The successful candidate will have a PhD, considerable experience in stem cell biology, epigenetics, molecular biology, developmental biology, or a similar field, and a proven track record in scientific publication. Prior experience in mammalian cell culture is essential. Experience of epigenetics and/or transcriptional regulation are essential, while experience of genome-wide transcriptional analysis, and in particular analysis at the single cell level, would also be an advantage. Applicants must display an ability to undertake project management, work within a multi-disciplinary team environment, have excellent presentation and communication skills and the ability to contribute to an environment supporting researchers at all stages of their careers.
The Wellcome – MRC Cambridge Stem Cell Institute (CSCI) is a world-leading centre for stem cell research with the mission to transform human health through a deep understanding of stem cell biology. https://www.stemcells.cam.ac.uk/
CSCI is due to move to the brand new, state of the art Jeffrey Cheah Biomedical Centre building on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus in summer 2019.
Fixed Term: The funds for this post are available for 3 years in the first instance. Deadline: July 28th, 2019.
Application and further particulars is online via this weblink: https://www.stemcells.cam.ac.uk/Join_Us/vacancies
Informal enquiries should be directed to Prof. Anna Philpott, ap113@cam.ac.uk. recent line manager.
The University values diversity and is committed to equality of opportunity. The University has a responsibility to ensure that all employees are eligible to live and work in the UK.
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Posted by Alex Gould, on 12 July 2019
Closing Date: 15 March 2021
A postdoctoral research position funded by the Wellcome Trust is available in the laboratory of Dr. Alex Gould at the Francis Crick Institute in London. The lab works on the mechanisms by which dietary nutrients during development can have profound long-term effects upon adult metabolism and lifespan. We are looking for a highly motivated researcher with experience in molecular biology and/or metabolism. The successful applicant will be able to choose from several Drosophila and mouse models that have been established in our lab (PMID: 21816278, PMID: 26451484, PMID: 29123106, PMID: 29515102 and unpublished). They will be exposed to a range of techniques including genetics, molecular biology, confocal microscopy, biochemistry, metabolomics as well as mass spectrometry imaging (PMID: 22246326, PMID: 26451484). Access will be provided to state-of-the-art facilities in advanced light and electron microscopy, metabolomics and single-cell sequencing. Examples of other projects ongoing in the lab can be seen at:
www.agouldlab.com
www.crick.ac.uk/research/labs/alex-gould
Please apply via the Crick website: www.crick.ac.uk/careers-and-study/postdocs
Vacancy ID: 011346
Direct link with more details of the position and eligibility: https://bit.ly/2NQXZZ2
Closing date: Monday, 12th August 2019 at 23:30 UK time
Informal enquiries to: alex.gould@crick.ac.uk
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Posted by James Briscoe, on 11 July 2019
Applications are now open for this year’s Gene Regulatory Networks for Development at The Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, USA from October 13-26. The application deadline is July 17th. The course is for graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, staff scientists and faculty members. It focuses on using experimental data and computational modeling to analyze gene regulatory networks controlling development.
This unique course is an intense and always interesting experience and has had great reviews in all of the previous years. Students will meet with renowned experts in the field for an in-depth treatment of experimental and computational approaches to GRN science. Through lectures, highly interactive discussions, and group projects we will explore the GRN concept and how it can be applied to solve developmental mechanisms in various systems and contexts. Topics include structural and functional properties of networks, GRN evolution, cis-regulatory logic, experimental analysis of GRNs, examples of solved GRNs in a variety of developmental contexts, and the computational analysis of network behaviour by continuous and discrete modelling approaches.
Travel fellowships are available.
For more information about the course, go to www.mbl.edu/courses
2019 Course Faculty:
Scott Barolo – U. of Michigan (co-director)
James Briscoe – Francis Crick Institute
Martha Bulyk – Harvard U.
Ken Cho – UC Irvine
Doug Erwin – Smithsonian Institution
Robb Krumlauf – Stowers Institute
Arthur Lander – UC Irvine
Bill Longabaugh – Institute for Systems Biology
Lee Niswander – U. of Colorado
Isabelle Peter – Caltech (co-director)
Alexander Stark – IMP Vienna
Zeba Wunderlich – UC Irvine
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Posted by Anestis Tsakiridis, on 10 July 2019
Closing Date: 15 March 2021
We are looking to appoint a Research Technician who will provide support to a one-year Neuroblastoma UK-funded project entitled “Establishment of an in vitro model of neuroblastoma initiation using pluripotent stem cell differentiation”. The project aims to dissect the cellular and molecular basis of neuroblastoma initiation using human pluripotent stem cell (hPSCs) differentiation and hPSC lines engineered to ectopically overexpress common neuroblastoma-associated oncogenes.
You will join a research team under the guidance of Dr Anestis Tsakiridis, providing support for routine hPSC culture and differentiation, preparation of samples/analysis and carrying out molecular cloning/genetic modification of hPSCs. Appropriate training will be provided. This is an excellent opportunity to gain hands-on laboratory experience and to be part of a leading research team. Our group’s research aims to define the molecular basis of cell fate decisions during human embryonic development and determine how “altered” embryonic multipotent states drive tumourigenesis (https://www.tsakiridislab.com/).
Applicants must have a good honours degree or equivalent experience in a developmental/stem cell biology-related subject along with previous experience of working in a research laboratory. Familiarity with some/all of the following techniques is desirable: hPSC culture; RNA isolation; molecular cloning; mammalian cell transfection; quantitative real time PCR; immunostaining; fluorescence microscopy; flow cytometry. Applicants should also have an interest in stem cell and developmental biology.
To apply: visit the University of Sheffield job portal (https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/jobs/index)
Closing date: 7th August 2019
Expected start date: 1st September 2019
For more details/questions contact: a.tsakiridis@sheffield.ac.uk
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Posted by the Node, on 9 July 2019
The Company of Biologists Workshops provide leading experts and early-career researchers from a diverse range of scientific backgrounds with a stimulating environment for the cross-fertilisation of interdisciplinary ideas. In November, experts will gather in the beautiful surroundings of Wiston House in West Sussex with the aim of ‘Understanding Human Birth Defects in the Genomic Age‘. Organised by Mustafa Khokha, Karen Liu and John Wallingford, the Workshop is an amazing opportunity to explore applied developmental biology.
There are around 10 funded places for early-career researchers available – a fantastic opportunity to share your research with leading scientists in an intimate setting.
Deadline for applications: 12 July 2019.
Find out more here:
If you’re interested in what early career scientists get out of attending workshops, why not read these these three recent Node posts from attendees:
Or watch the following video summaries from recent Workshops:
Chromatin-Based Regulation of Development
Evo-chromo
Development and evolution of the human neocortex
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Posted by the Node Interviews, on 9 July 2019
This interview, the 66th in our series, was recently published in Development
Transcriptional autoregulation occurs when transcription factors bind their own cis-regulatory sequences, ensuring their own continuous expression along with expression of other targets. During development, continued expression of identity-specifying transcription factors can be achieved by autoregulation, but until now formal evidence for a developmental requirement of autoregulation has been lacking. A new paper in Development provides this proof with the help of CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing in the C. elegans nervous system. We caught up with the paper’s two authors: postdoc Eduardo Leyva-Díaz and his supervisor Oliver Hobert, Professor of Biological Sciences and HHMI Investigator at Columbia University, New York, to find out more about the work.
Oliver, can you give us your scientific biography and the questions your lab is trying to answer?
OH I started out investigating signal transduction for my PhD with Axel Ullrich and Gerhard Krauss in Germany, and then moved to the USA for my postdoc with Gary Ruvkun. In Gary’s lab, I started working with C. elegans on transcription factor regulation and specification of neuronal fates. In my own lab, we have continued to pursue our interest in understanding the molecular mechanisms that control the generation of diverse cell types in the nervous system. More recently, we are also becoming more and more interested in understanding how neuronal identity features are modulated by certain factors, such as environmental conditions or sexual identity.
And Eduardo, how did you come to work in the Hobert lab, and what drives your research today?
EL-D My fascination with science began in biology laboratory classes in high school, with a very dedicated and passionate teacher. Since then, I’ve been always attracted to genetics and molecular biology, and my first research experience as an undergraduate student was in Prof. Jose Luis Micol’s lab working on Arabidopsis thalianagenetics. Towards the time of my graduation, I became interested in the nervous system, specifically in learning and memory, although I have never really worked on that field. The one thing I was not interested in at all at that time was developmental neurobiology, but funnily enough, after my rotation in different labs at the Instituto de Neurociencias de Alicante, I was totally captivated by it, and devoted my next 6 years to studying mouse brain development in Guillermina Lopez-Bendito’s lab. After my thesis defense, I stayed for a few months in the lab and worked on a new research line aimed at reprogramming endogenous astrocytes into different projection neurons. With this experience in identity reprogramming and transcriptional regulation, I developed a deep interest in neuronal identity specification, particularly regarding the maintenance of neuronal features. The Hobert lab was then a clear perfect match, with C. elegans representing an excellent model system to study neuronal identity specification and maintenance.
When did you first become interested in transcriptional autoregulation? And given it has been known about for decades, why do you think it has taken so long to formally test its functional requirement?
OH & EL-D A key characteristic of several terminal selectors, identity-specifying transcription factors, is their role in the maintenance of neuronal identity, which is thought to be achieved by transcriptional autoregulation. However we, as well as others, had only inferred transcriptional autoregulation from the presence of binding sites of a transcription factor in its own genomic locus, and from genetic loss-of-function studies in which the activity of a transcription factor is removed and a loss of transcription of this locus is consequently observed. Formal proof for the functional relevance of autoregulation has been sparse, however. The advent of CRISPR/Cas9 technologies has been key to providing formal proof for this requirement, because it enabled us to disrupt autoregulation, but not other functions of a specific transcription factor. We could therefore precisely ask what it is that autoregulation actually does – and we came up with a surprise that we had not anticipated.
Can you give us the key results of the paper in a paragraph?
OH & EL-D In this paper, we use CRISPR/Cas9 to remove a cis-regulatory motif from a cell identity-specifying transcription factor, showing that the disruption of transcriptional autoregulation leads to a failure to maintain the differentiated state of the cell. Upon regulatory motif mutation, we observe a gradual decrease in neuronal function and cell identity marker expression. This was an expected result that provided formal proof for the importance of identity-triggering transcription factors in maintaining the identity state of a cell. However, we also found that transcriptional autoregulation is not only required to maintain a specific cellular state, but is also required during development to amplify the expression levels of the autoregulating transcription factor to a critical threshold level in order to allow it to initiate expression of its target genes, which will define the differentiated state of the cell.
Do you think the early function in initiation of che-1expression is likely to be a general feature of autoregulation?
OH & EL-D In general, we think that if a gene can autoregulate it makes sense that this autoregulation is also used early in development. However, we have found in the literature examples of other autoregulating transcription factors for which maintenance relies on autoregulation, while the initial amplification is achieved by different means. Interestingly, this dual role of autoregulation, early amplification/late maintenance, seems to be modular and context dependent, since in some cases the autoregulation of other factors is only important early in development. Nonetheless, it does not seem far-fetched to propose that the functional duality of transcriptional autoregulation constitutes a widely used gene regulatory principle during animal development.
It does not seem far-fetched to propose that the functional duality of transcriptional autoregulation constitutes a widely used gene regulatory principle during animal development
When doing the research, did you have any particular result or eureka moment that has stuck with you?
EL-D For me, the eureka moment was when we realized about the function of transcriptional autoregulation in early development. We were very satisfied with the close correlation between che-1 expression and neuronal functional performance through the different developmental stages. But when we looked earlier, we were at first surprised by finding already low levels of che-1 expression in the embryo. Then we realized that it would only make sense if autoregulation also contributed to transcription factor initial amplification and, consequently, acquisition of the differentiated state.
And what about the flipside: any moments of frustration or despair?
EL-D Without any doubt, the moments of frustration and despair were at the very beginning of the project. Generating precise motif mutations in the che-1promoter was key for this story, and obtaining some of the cis-regulatory mutations took longer than expected. The application of CRISPR/Cas9 engineering to different projects was just becoming established in the lab at that point, and we were at the initial phase of standardization and protocol set up. Of course, we got our mutants, and the road was mostly paved after that.
So what next for you after this paper?
EL-D I am intensively working on a second project, where we are trying to understand how the expression of pan-neuronal genes is controlled. Neuronal identity is determined by the expression of neuron-type specific genes and pan-neuronal genes, which are shared by all neurons in the nervous system. We now know several examples about neuron-type specific gene regulation, but not that much about pan-neuronal genes. Previous work form the Hobert lab has shed some light into the how, and now I am trying to find the who, identifying key factors controlling pan-neuronal gene expression. And then, job hunting.
Where will this work take the Hobert lab?
OH This work will hopefully not present the endpoint of studying transcriptional autoregulation. While there’s plenty of evidence to suggest that positive autoregulation is a widespread phenomenon, we also know that some identity-specifying terminal selectors do not autoregulate, even though their expression is maintained throughout the life of a neuron. How does this work? In at least one other case, we also have reason to believe that there is negative autoregulation, in which a terminal selector dims down its own expression. We would love to understand how and why this is.
Finally, let’s move outside the lab – what do you like to do in your spare time in New York?
EL-D New York is an amazing place and I love to explore the city and its surroundings with my wife and friends. I especially enjoy discovering all the culinary options, and I try to take advantage of the different cultural activities that the city has to offer. I also like to stay active, running and playing different sports. Finally, I love to travel when possible, to discover new places or back to Spain to enjoy the weather, food, family and friends.
OH I don’t have much to add to this. New York is an amazing, dynamic and constantly changing place that leaves new things to discover even if one has lived in the city for a while.
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Posted by Kat Arney, on 9 July 2019
In this episode we’re celebrating the actual birthday of the society – founded on the 25th June, 100 years ago – with past president, Nobel laureate and winner of the Genetics Society’s first centenary medal, Sir Paul Nurse.
To mark this auspicious day, the Genetics Society held a very special birthday party at the John Innes Centre in Norwich. First we were treated to a wonderful exhibition of artefacts from the society’s history, including co-founder William Bateson’s original microscope and some fascinating photos. Then past president of the society and Nobel prize-winner Sir Paul Nurse unveiled two blue plaques dedicated to each of the founders, followed by the first ever Centenary medal lecture.
Listen and download now from GeneticsUnzipped.com, plus full show notes and transcripts.
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Posted by the Node, on 8 July 2019
Update: please read the latest statement from the MPI-CBG
Our thoughts are with Suzanne’s family, friends and colleagues.
Suzanne Eaton, the molecular and developmental biologist based at the MPI-CBG in Dresden, is currently missing on the island of Crete (see the MPI’s statement and recent NBC news story for details).
The search team has set up a fundraising page, as “additional costs are anticipated for added search and rescue teams with dogs for land and specialized equipment for sea. A donation account via PayPal has been set up. Unused funds will be donated to organizations who have generously volunteered their time and resources during our search”
Please consider donating here:
https://www.facebook.com/donate/1484647861677379/2230850043697619/
The ‘Searching for Suzanne’ page has been posting regular updates and requests – including a request to manually check surveillance footage from airplanes, drones and security cameras
https://m.facebook.com/Searchingforsuzanne/posts/?ref=page_internal&mt_nav=0
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Posted by Sara Wilson, on 5 July 2019
Closing Date: 15 March 2021
Applications are invited from highly motivated individuals interested in fundamental mechanisms of neurodevelopment and disease.The focus of the project is to understand neural developmental and behavioural phenotypes in mouse models of Tuberous Sclerosis Complex (TSC1 conditional mouse mutant). The fellowship is in the laboratories of Sara Wilson at the Department of Integrative Medical Biology (IMB), and Leif Carlsson at UCMM both laboratories at Umeå University, Sweden. The facilities provide an interactive modern environment with easy access to good core facilities. The fellowship is administratively placed at IMB, which is an interdisciplinary department focusing on questions in basic and medical sciences. The fellowship is funded for two years and is available immediately. The working ‘day to day’ language in the laboratories is English.
Scientists with a keen interest in developmental neuroscience are encouraged to apply!
Technical experience with mouse genetics and handling, developmental biology, neuroscience, molecular and/or cell biology. Experience with rodent behaviour analysis is an advantage but not required.Technical experience with imaging, molecular biology, immunohistochemistry, in situ hybridisation, vertebrate embryonic model systems is advantageous. Technical experience with embryo electroporation and /or neurite outgrowth/migration assays will also be positively evaluated. Full training will be given!
The successful candidate will have or about to receive a Ph.D. in a relevant discipline, have good communication skills and be proficient in written and spoken English. The most successful scientist will have a high level of motivation, be organised rigorous and have the ability to work both independently and within a team.
Please submit your application (reference 2019SW7) by 20thAugust 2019 to sara.wilson@umu.se by sending the following documents as a single pdf file:
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