PhD Candidate in Defining the Proximal Proteome of Mutant Chromatin Proteins Associated With Chromatinopathies

Are you a team-oriented PhD candidate with an interest in molecular biology? And would you like to learn and work in a multidisciplinary team in an innovative laboratory environment as well as be part of a Marie Curie Doctoral Network? If so, come and Join the lively and world-class RIMLS-Science Institute and the ChromRare network to conduct research towards the unveiling of the molecular basis of chromatinopathies.

As a member of the Department of Molecular Biology, you will enter our four-year PhD programme at Radboud University and participate in the ChromRare consortium. This consortium will focus on 'Chromatinopathies' (CPs), which are syndromes caused by mutations in chromatin-associated proteins. In the context of this network, we are looking for a PhD candidate who is eager to join our team to apply an 'off-the-shelf' proximity biotinylation enzyme called ProteinA-TurboID that was recently developed in our lab (Santos-Barriopedro et al., Nature Commun. 2021, Nature Protocols 2022). This recombinant proximity biotinylation enzyme can be targeted to baits of interest in primary cells using bait-specific antibodies, which are available for all the mutant enzymes studied in this network. This approach thus represents an ideal system to probe the proximal proteome for various mutated chromatin proteins in CPs, making use of primary patient cells or patient derived iPSC models without the need for genetic manipulation of the target cells. Identified candidate proximal proteins will be functionally verified using ChIP-seq and a technology recently developed in our lab called BANC-seq (Neikes et al., Nature Biotechnolgoy 2023). Furthermore, functional follow-up studies will be pursued such as CRISPR-based functional studies, including degron lines and RNA-seq, which we have ample experience with (Grand et al., Nature 2021). This work may provide new leads towards novel therapies for CPs.

Requirements:

• You should have a Master's degree in molecular or cellular biology, biomedical sciences, molecular life sciences or a related field.
• You have experience in one or more of the following areas: molecular biology and cell biology techniques, cell purification, interpretation of mass-spectrometry data, next-generation sequencing data, single-cell approaches, or gene regulation.
• You have experience in computational analysis.
• You have strong analytical skills and a problem-solving and result-oriented attitude.
• You are a highly communicative and team science-minded professional.

Salary Benefits:

• It concerns an employment for 1.0 FTE.
• The gross starting salary amounts to €2,541 per month based on a 38-hour working week, and will increase to €3,247 in the fourth year (salary scale P).
• You will receive 8% holiday allowance and 8.3% end-of-year bonus.
• You will be employed for an initial period of 18 months, after which your performance will be evaluated. If the evaluation is positive, the contract will be extended by 2.5 years (4 year contract).
• You will be able to use our Dual Career and Family Care Services. Our Dual Career and Family Care Officer can assist you with family-related support, help your partner or spouse prepare for the local labour market, provide customized support in their search for employment and help your family settle in Nijmegen.
• Working for us means getting extra days off. In case of full-time employment, you can choose between 30 or 41 days of annual leave instead of the legally allotted 20.

Work and science require good employment practices. This is reflected in Radboud University's primary and secondary employment conditions. You can make arrangements for the best possible work-life balance with flexible working hours, various leave arrangements and working from home. You are also able to compose part of your employment conditions yourself, for example, exchange income for extra leave days and receive a reimbursement for your sports subscription. And of course, we offer a good pension plan. You are given plenty of room and responsibility to develop your talents and realise your ambitions. Therefore, we provide various training and development schemes.

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