22 May 2023
Job InformationOrganisation/Company
The International Institute of Molecular Mechanisms and Machines Polish Academy of Sciences
Research Field
Biological sciences » Biology
Researcher Profile
First Stage Researcher (R1)
Country
Poland
Application Deadline
5 Jun 2023 - 23:59 (Europe/Warsaw)
Type of Contract
Temporary
Job Status
Full-time
Hours Per Week
40
Offer Starting Date
1 Jul 2023
Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme?
Not funded by an EU programme
Reference Number
PhD student OPUS22CV 052023
Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure?
No
Offer DescriptionThe International Institute of Molecular Mechanisms and Machines
together with Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics of the Polish Academy of Sciences
announces the recruitment for the PhD student position
for the implementation of OPUS-22 project financed by the National Science Center entitled:
“ Inhibiting the Mitochondrial Intermembrane Space Assembly pathway as a new approach to prevent metabolic reprogramming of therapy-resistant leukemia stem-cells ” (2021/43/B/NZ5/01684)
Project description:
AML is the most common form of acute leukemia in adults: it is responsible for 62% of all leukemia deaths and it has the fifth worst five-year survival by cancer type, after pancreatic, lung, liver and oesophageal cancers. Unfor tunately, it is recognized that there is a population of leukemic stem cells (LSCs) which are more resistant to chemotherapy and can survive the consolidation phase leading to a recurrence of the disease.
APE1 is an essential enzyme in the DNA base excision repair (BER) pathway, which is responsible for repairing both nuclear and mitochondrial oxidative DNA lesions. APE1 is imported into mitochondria under oxidative stress conditions and the pathway responsible for the entrance of APE1 into the mitochondrial intermembrane space (IMS) is the Mitochondrial Intermembrane Space Assembly (MIA) pathway. Mia40 and ALR represent the central components of the MIA import machinery that uses a redox system to drive cysteine- enriched proteins into the mitochondrial compartment.
This project proposes to develop an innovative strategy to selectively target therapy-resistant LSCs by inhibiting the MIA pathway. To achieve this goal, we will use two parallel strategies to inhibit the MIA pathway: a Mia40 inhibitory peptide-based approach and a in silico drug screening approach for the development of small-molecule modulators.
This project will extend our understanding of the role of the MIA pathway in cancer cells' behavior and its role in the metabolic reprogramming of AML therapy-resistant cells, setting the basis for the development of alternative or adjuvant approaches for cancer treatment.
Description of tasks:
The successful candidate will be dealing with the screening and molecular modelling tasks including selected direct experimental testing. Special emphasis will be placed on data wrangling and molecular modelling skills. She/he will make use of computational techniques such as molecular docking, molecular mechanics and dynamics simulations. Finally she/he will be training and testing ML/DL models.
Requirements:
For this position a MSc degree is required with previous experience in bioinformatics and/or structural studies. Additional required skills:
Conditions of employment:
Date and form of submitting offers:
Deadline for applications: July 5th 2023 11:59 pm
If you think you are the person who we are looking for, please apply by filling in this form:
https: // forms.gle/vsiR6wscRvM6wazt8
Required documents:
Research Field
Biological sciences » Biology
Education Level
Master Degree or equivalent
Number of offers available
1
Company/Institute
IMol PAS
Country
Poland
Geofield
Where to applyWebsite
https: // forms.gle/vsiR6wscRvM6wazt8
ContactState/Province
mazowieckie
City
Warsaw
Website
https:// imol.instiutute
Street
Flisa 6
Postal Code
02-247
STATUS: EXPIRED