Postdoctoral Position Cancer Epigenetics

IEO - European Institute of Oncology

Milan, Italy

€ 39.000 per year gross

We are seeking a computational postdoctoral scientist to join Paola Scaffidi’s research team at the European Institute of Oncology (IEO) in Milan on a project funded by the Italian Ministry of University and Research under FIS 3 (Italian Fund for Science) programme, investigating molecular mechanisms of epigenetic regulation in physiological and pathological settings.

About the Project:

Epigenetic mechanisms integrate intrinsic and extrinsic signals to regulate the functional output of the genome, ultimately defining cellular states and behaviors. They regulate various biological processes in physiology and their dysregulation often leads to disease. The molecular control of epigenetic information relies on the Epigenetic Regulatory Network (ERN), hundreds of proteins of diverse function, which cooperate in defining chromatin structure and DNA methylation landscapes.

While many network components have been characterized, how these different regulatory layers function in a coherent network is poorly understood. With this research, we aim to move beyond the examination of individual network components and dissect how redundancy and functional interactions within and across distinct classes of epigenetic regulators govern ERN functionality.

By interrogating the ERN through the lens of cancer, the successful candidates will:

• Indentify functional relationships between regulators of diverse molecular functions;
• Dissect how mutational perturbation induce ERN remodeling within and across classes of epigenetic regulators;
• predict the impact of combinatorial interference with ERN components in biomedically-relevant models;
• Collaborate with experimental scientists to integrate mechanistic and systems-level insights.

We seek creative, self-driven scientists with a PhD in bioinfromatics, computer science or related fields. Expertise in chromatin, genomics, or epigenetics is a plus; genuine enthusiasm for tackling fundamental questions with cutting-edge methods is essential.

Key responsibilities:

• Design statistical frameworks and pipelines for large-scale genomic datasets and CRISPR screens;
• Analyze genomics datasets, either publicaly available or produced in the project;
• Provide bioinformatic support to wet-lab collaborators and help maintain reproducible, well-documented code.

Essential qualifications:

• PhD in bioinformatics, computational biology, statistics, computer science, or a related field;
• Proven expertise in processing and interpreting NGS data.