瑞士苏黎世大学招聘肿瘤研究方向的博士后

The position:
Cancer is a tissue disease. Heterogeneous cancer cells and normal stromal and immune cells form a dynamic ecosystem that evolves to support tumor expansion and ultimately tumor spread. The complexity of this dynamic ecosystem is among the main obstacles to treatment of the disease. The study of the tumor ecosystem is thus essential for identification of biomarkers to improve patient categorization and to identify novel targets for therapy. Our group is among the pioneers in the development and application of single-cell approaches for the comprehensive analysis of tumor ecosystems (Cell Systems 2017, Cell 2017). Our imaging mass cytometry approach enables simultaneous visualization of over 50 proteins and transcripts in single cells in tissues (Nat Methods 2014, 2017). Thus we can identify cell types and detect active signaling pathways and functional markers simultaneously in situ (Nat Biotech 2017).

We are looking for a postdoctoral fellow to help unravel the role of tumor-associated fibroblasts (TAFs) in lung cancer. Like other cells of the stroma, TAFs can have tumor supportive and tumor suppressive roles. Recent results indicate that TAFs are important to the establishment of immune-stimulating niches in cancer microenvironments. Little is known, however, about TAF phenotypes or about how these cells influence other cells in the tumor ecosystem. The selected candidate will use mass cytometry (CyTOF) and imaging mass cytometry to define the TAF phenotypes and to study their interactions with immune and tumor cells in samples from mouse models and from patients with lung cancer. Machine learning approaches and systems biology analyses will be used to infer cellular network models describing the components and the wiring that underlies the tumor ecosystem. These models will be used to guide experiments to determine mechanisms that result in the tumor supportive and tumor suppressive effects of TAFs and to assess the importance of the TAFs on patient outcome.

This project will be embedded in an exciting multi-laboratory collaboration that will generate complementary single-cell genomics datasets, novel algorithms for data analysis, and model systems for follow up experiments. The postdoctoral fellow will be located at the University of Zurich. This project is supported by an SNF Sinergia grant.

In this position you will:
• work in a collaborative and interdisciplinary team to study TAFs and immune cells in mouse and human lung cancer tissue
• develop novel single-cell approaches to best study TAFs in the tumor ecosystem
• follow up on TAF-related biological questions emanating from the models 
• publish as a lead author in highly visible journals

You must be:
• a highly motivated Ph.D. or M.D.-Ph.D. level researcher with a passion for science who would like to work in a collaborative multidisciplinary research environment that combines systems biology, tumor biology, bioinformatics, and biomedicine

Ideally, you have: 
• acquired your Ph.D. recently (maximum of 4 years ago)
• experience in single-cell analysis and/or tissue imaging 
• some expertise in statistical and machine learning approaches for analysis of large datasets 
• a desire to work in a collaborative environment 
• have proficiency in English (German is optional)

To apply:
Send by email a cover letter (including an explanation of your motivation), your CV, and the contact information of at least two references to Prof. B. Bodenmiller (bernd.bodenmiller@imls.uzh.ch). This position is available starting 15.04.2018. Applications will be considered until the position is filled. …