Doctoral student in Medical Science – Mechanisms underlying clonal hematopoiesis

Ref PAR 2024/134

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Doctoral position in Medical Science

Project title: Mechanisms underlying clonal hematopoiesis

One additional doctoral student position is currently announced. For more information, see the announcement PAR 2024/135. 

The Department of Medical Biochemistry and Cell biology, is located at the Institute of Biomedicine at the Faculty of Medicine at Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg.

The PhD education in Medical Science comprises carrying out a scientific project and completing at least 30 credits of courses at third-cycle level. The doctoral student must also write a scientific compilation thesis or monograph corresponding to at least 120 credits. For more information about third-cycle studies at Sahlgrenska Academy, see https://www.gu.se/en/sahlgrenska-akademin/doctoral-studies

Project: Clonal hematopoiesis (CH) is an early stage of blood cancer development, where a large fraction of blood cells originates from a single hematopoietic stem cell lineage. CH can be detected in DNA sequencing data from blood cells of healthy individuals based on somatic genetic variants. CH with somatic variants in blood cells of healthy individuals carries an increased risk of leukemia and age-related diseases. Recently, we distinguished clonal hematopoiesis into myeloid and lymphoid sub-groups and stratified risk of developing distinct types of blood cancers (Niroula et al., Nature Medicine 2021).

In this PhD project, we aim to understand the mechanisms of CH development and sex-specific regulators of CH. As a PhD student, you will use advanced bioinformatics and statistical methods to analyze large-scale next-generation sequencing (NGS) data and multi-omics data. The project involves extensive use of high-performance computing (HPC) platforms. The PhD student will work in a data-driven life science (DDLS) research team affiliated to the Wallenberg Centre for Molecular and Translational Medicine (WCMTM, https://www.gu.se/en/molecular-translational-medicine ) and the SciLifeLab and Wallenberg National Program for DDLS (https://www.scilifelab.se/data-driven/ ).

The applicant should be able to work independently and in collaborative teams. Previous experience in programming (R or python), UNIX operating system, and research in human genomics is desirable.

Education at third-cycle level comprises four years of full-time study, and leads to a doctoral degree.  As part of your employment as a doctoral student, you may have departmental duties corresponding to up to 20 % of full-time employment, distributed throughout your study period. Departmental duties usually consist of teaching at first- and second-cycle levels, but may also include research and administration.    

Education at third-cycle level requires general eligibility and specific eligibility as set out in the general syllabus for the subject.  

The general eligibility requirements for education at third-cycle level are:
1. having completed a degree at second-cycle level, or
2. the fulfilment of course requirements totalling at least 240 credits, of which at least 60 credits must be at second-cycle level, or
3. the acquisition of equivalent knowledge in some other way, either in Sweden or abroad.
Specific entry requirements for this subject, according to the general syllabus, are:
having completed the English B/6 course or is considered to have acquired equivalent knowledge through previous studies. 

The selection of applicants who are considered to have the ability required to benefit from the study programme and who meet the general and specific eligibility requirements are assessed based on the following documented qualifications: – specific knowledge and skills within the subject area and related research fields
– experience of scientific theory and relevant research methodology
– scientific analysis and presentation verified through thesis, degree project, scientific journals or the like.    

Once you have been admitted for education at third-cycle level, you will be employed as a doctoral student at the University of Gothenburg. The provisions for employment as a doctoral student can be found in ordinance SFS 1993:100. Initial employment as a doctoral student may apply for a maximum of one year, and may be renewed by a maximum of two years at a time. A doctoral student may be employed as a doctoral student for a maximum of eight years, but the total period of employment may not be longer than the equivalent of full-time education at third-cycle level for four years.   

Location: Sahlgrenska Academy, Institute of Biomedicine, Department of Medical Biochemistry and Cell biology. Extent: 100%. First day of employment: as agreed.

The University applies a local agreement on salaries for doctoral students.