PhD Scholarship to Study Enhancers Communities in Lineage Determination of Stem Cells

The Mandrup group at the Functional Genomics & Metabolism Research Unit, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Southern Denmark, invites applications from outstanding candidates who are interested in joining our group as a PhD student. The position is available from 1 September 2022, or as soon as possible thereafter.

Research project
The ability of higher eukaryotic cells to control transcription is a prerequisi te for specialization during development, and for maintenance as well as plasticity of cellular identity. It is becoming increasingly clear that this important regulation is dependent on physical compartmentalization of the genome into functional units and on elaborate cooperativity between transcription factors within these units. Understanding the interplay between chromatin topology and transcriptional activity constitutes one of the major current challenges in the transcription field.

We have recently applied enhancer capture Hi-C to investigate enhancer interactions in human mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) undergoing adipocyte differentiation. We showed that enhancers form highly interconnected enhancer communities that appear to act as hubs driving adipocyte lineage determination. Ongoing work in our group now focuses on delineating the interplay between chromatin topology and transcriptional regulation during adipocyte differentiation.

The PhD fellow wi ll drive functional genomics studies in human mesenchymal stem cells to identify key regulatory enhancers and architectural proteins, and to define basic mechanisms of enhancer function and crosstalk during adipocyte differentiation. The fellow will work closely together with a postdoc and another PhD student on the project. The project can involve research exchange to collaborating laboratories including those within https://www.enhpathy.eu/ ENHPATHY, if in the interest of the student.

PhDqualifications/requirements
We are looking for highly motivated, dedicated, and ambitious candidates with:

• A Master's degree in Life Science, preferably Molecular Biology, Biomedicine, or Computational Systems Biology. The degree must be completed by the start of the PhD scholaship.
• Experience with cell biology or NGS data analysis. Knowledge about transcriptional regulation would be an advantage.
• Strong communication and collaborative skills and an interest in working in an interdisciplinary environment.
• Proficiency in spoken and written English.

Deadline: 8 August 2022.

Please see the full call, including how to apply, on www.sdu.dk.

">https://www.sdu.dk/en">www.sdu.dk.