IRB Barcelona is a world-class research centre devoted to understanding fundamental questions about human health and disease. Created in 2005 by the Generalitat de Catalunya (Government of Catalonia) and the University of Barcelona, IRB Barcelona is a Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence - a seal that was awarded in 2011.
The institute is devoted to conducting research of excellence in biomedicine and to transferring results to clinical practice, thus improving people’s quality of life, while simultaneously promoting the training of outstanding researchers, technology transfer, and public communication of science. Its 29 laboratories and 7 core facilities address basic questions in biology, chemistry and medicine.
IRB Barcelona is looking for Postdoctoral Candidates to submit proposals through the TALENT AECC MSCA COFUND in the field of Cancer research. The grant initiative aims to foster the creativity and innovation of PhD-holding researchers seeking to acquire new skills through advanced training, international collaboration, interdisciplinary work, and cross-sectoral mobility. Postdoctoral candidates are encouraged to review the list of IRB labs currently accepting fellows (see below) to identify research areas that align with their interests and find an appropriate IRB supervisor.
Call deadline: 23 November 2023 (15:00 CET)
Eligibility
Please confirm that you meet the eligibility criteria for this call before applying
- Supported fellows must be in possession of a doctoral degree before call deadline.
- At the call deadline, supported researchers must have a maximum of 8 years fulltime equivalent experience in research, measured from the date of award of the doctoral degree. Years of experience outside research and career breaks (e.g. due to parental leave), will not count towards the amount of research experience.
- Recruited researchers must comply with the following mobility rule: they must not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in Spain for more than 12 months in the 36 months immediately before the call deadline.
- Candidates can be of any nationality.
- More info at AECC TALENT MSCA COFUND
How to apply
Postdoctoral Fellows interested in applying for this call in the referenced labs hereunder should contact directly the laboratory PI.
Cancer Science
- Signalling and Cell Cycle Laboratory
- PI: Angel R. Nebreda
- Project abstract: Exploring tumor vulnerabilities by targeting stress kinase signaling.
- Keywords: p38 MAPK, signaling network, cancer cell homeostasis, chemotherapy resistance, tumor microenvironment.
- Pediatric Cancer Epigenetics Laboratory
- PI: Alexandra Avgustinova
- Project abstract: to study the very early stages of Ewing Sarcoma initiation, focussing on the epigenomic rewiring of the cell of origin. The project is multidisciplinary and will involve the use of cell and molecular biology techniques, CRISPR/Cas9 genome engineering, (epi)genomic profiling, lineage tracing, as well as in vitro and in vivo models of the disease.
- Keywords: childhood cancer; epigenomics, lineage tracing, single-cell genomics.
Mechanisms of Disease
- Molecular Biophysics Laboratory
- PI: Xavier Salvatella
- Project abstract: Transcription factors are very attractive drug targets for oncology. They are considered undruggable because they are intrinsically disordered and thus fail to fold into well-defined structures with long-lived binding pockets for drug-like small molecules. During transactivation, transcription factors can form highly dynamic clusters with other members of the transcription machinery that also contain intrinsic disorder domains. Scientists at IRB Barcelona have recently shown that this offers opportunities to target transcription factors with small molecules (Basu, Martínez-Cristóbal et al, in press in Nat. Struct. Mol. Biol.). The student joining our laboratory at IRB will study how specific experimental drugs that target these clusters alter their properties in ways that diminish transcriptional activity.
- Keywords: Transcription factors, drug discovery, oncology, intrinsic disorder, transcriptional condensates.
- Comparative Genomics Laboratory
- PI: Toni Gabaldón
- Project abstract: Our project will use metagenomics to explore changes in the gut microbiome during the onset and progression of colorectal cancer, and aims to identify relevant factors and novel biomarkers for early diagnosis and risk prediction.
- Keywords: Colorectal cancer, metagenomics, early diagnosis
