Bioinformatics Postdoctoral Position in Gene Regulation

Understanding how a fertilized egg develops into a complex multicellular organism is one of the most fascinating topics in biology. The current challenge is to understand how genes function as part of gene regulatory networks that control the developmental potential of progenitor and stem cells during organogenesis. We are using the mouse limb bud as a paradigm to study the transcriptional and epigenetic mechanisms controlling gene expression during organogenesis in embryos. To this aim we combine genetic, molecular and bioinformatic analysis of various types of genome-wide dataset including chromatin interactions during gene regulation - for more details please see our lab website: http://www.devgenbasel.com .

The focus will be on the comparative analysis of primary NGS datasets generated from wildtype and mutant tissues including ChIP-seq, ATAC-seq and datasets to study chromatin interactions by 4C, capture-HiC and Hi-ChIP technology. The analysis pipelines for the latter two techniques will be established by direct interactions with collaborators. The bioinformatician will also benefit from the bioinformatics environment at University of Basel as she/he will interact with the Bioinformatics Core Facility and be responsible for the groups' data storage and project hubs at the University's SciCORE Center (http://scicore.unibas.ch/ ).

The ideal candidate is a PhD in bioinformatics that considers our group an excellent opportunity for innovative and out-of-the box research and wants to benefit from direct interactions with experimental scientists. A proven track record (=publications in peer reviewed journals) in the comparative analysis of primary NGS datasets such as RNA-seq, ChIP-seq, ATAC-seq and skills in writing custom code (using e.g. R/Bioconductor; Phyton and/or C) is required. Additional expertise or vested interest in analysing NGS datasets for studying the chromatin conformations and interactions relevant to gene regulation in both wild-type and mutant tissues is a strong plus.

A stimulating and pleasant research environment in an internationally renowned research group in the Department of Biomedicine at the University of Basel. Our innovative research in evolution and development incorporates bioinformatics and computational approaches to study fundamental questions in biology: see e.g. Lopez-Rios et al. 2014, Nature 511, 46-51; Reinhardt et al. 2019, Development 146, dev173328; Malkmus et al. 2021, Nature Comm 12, 5557; Jhanwar et al. 2021, Nature Comm 12, 5685. The position is perfect for an ambitious candidate interested in widening their expertise with the aimto achieve scientific independence. The University of Basel is an equal opportunity employer that offers competitive salaries, a very attractive work environment and career mentoring.

Application / Contact

For informal inquiries please contact Prof. Rolf Zeller ([email protected] ) and/or PD Dr. Aimée Zuniga ([email protected] ). We will only consider complete application with motivation letter and a one page summary of the current research and interests, CV with complete publication list, grades of master and/or PhD and the names and addresses of three referees. Please upload your complete application as one PDF file the using following button. Zoom pre-interviews start as applications are received and continue until the position is filled.