Postdoctoral Research Associate: Chromosomal instability in marine
transmissible cancers

An exciting new postdoctoral opportunity has become available in
the Bivalve Transmissible Neoplasia Group (www.zoo.cam.ac.uk/btn), a
small, interactive and international research team at the University of
Cambridge, with strong collaborative links with other groups in Europe
and the US. The group's research is focused on the genetics and evolution
of a recently discovered family of clonally transmissible cancers which
affect several species of marine bivalves.

The new position is part of an ERC-funded project examining genome
evolution in hundreds of samples from multiple independent marine
transmissible cancer clones. A poorly understood aspect of these
cancers is the phenomenon of extreme chromosomal instability, whereby
individual cancer cells in a single animal may present a dynamic
spectrum of karyotypes ranging from ~10 to ~350 chromosomes per cell
(https://doi.org/10.1038/s43018-023-00641-9).

Our team is looking for a highly motivated postdoctoral researcher to
lead new research into the mechanisms enabling such exceptional levels
of chromosomal instability, as well as the long-term evolutionary
consequences of this phenomenon, using a combination of single-cell
genome sequencing and classical cytogenetics.

The role will involve:
- Developing new methods for inference of copy number alterations from
  single-cell DNA sequencing data
- Analysing patterns of single-cell copy number variation to identify
  mechanistic signatures of chromosomal instability
- Learning and applying cytogenetic methods for generation and analysis
  of chromosome imaging data
- Interacting with international experts in single-cell sequencing,
  cytogenetics, somatic evolution, and comparative cancer genomics
- Possible scope for field work involving marine bivalves.

The ideal candidate will be self-motivated, passionate about cancer
genome biology and somatic evolution, and willing to learn, develop and
apply state-of-the-art molecular and computational approaches. They will
hold a PhD in a relevant subject, have a solid computational background,
and be able to curate, analyse and interpret complex single-cell data
sets. Experience in molecular biology or cytogenetics is desirable but
not essential.

Both the start date and the duration of this position are flexible.

Informal enquiries are encouraged and should be directed to Dr Adrian
Baez-Ortega <ab2324@cam.ac.uk>.

For more details and how to apply: https://www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/51236/

Adrian Baez-Ortega <ab2324@cam.ac.uk>

(to subscribe/unsubscribe the EvolDir send mail to
golding@mcmaster.ca)