奥地利科学研究院分子医学研究中心招聘胰腺β细胞生物学博士后

To join our Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF)-funded beta cell biology network, we are looking for a highly motivated PostDoc working in the group of Stefan Kubicek at CeMM, the Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna, co-supervised by Jacob Hecksher-Sorensen, Hagedorn Institute, Copenhagen. We aim at generating insulin-producing beta cells from other cell types (Collombat et al. Cell 2009) by targeting chromatin, signaling pathways and master regulatory transcription factors with small-molecules (Fomina, Kubicek et al. PNAS 2010, Kubicek et al PNAS 2012). The identification of chemical compounds promoting such conversion could open new avenues towards an improved treatment of type I diabetes: we will therefore use several approaches aimed at discovering small molecules able to activate Pax4 expression and/or inhibit Arx activities.

Tasks and responsibilities:
• Establishing and maintaining cell culture conditions for human and murine pancreatic cell lines and primary islets of Langerhans
• Engineering these cells for the inducible overexpression and knock-down of master regulatory transcription factors and chromatin modifying enzymes
• Network analysis of the effects of modulating the levels of master regulatory transcription factors and chromatin modifying enzymes in pancreatic cells by transcriptomics, proteomics, and genome-wide chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP-Seq)
• Establishing cell based and biochemical assays for the discovery of small molecules on our state-of-the-art robotic high throughput and high content screening platform (including automated confocal microscope, plate reader, liquid handling workstation, plate washer, dispensers)
• Identification and characterization of small molecules and signaling pathways that modulate protein stability and activities of ARX and PAX4
• Data management and analysis

Requirements and desired qualifications:
• PhD in molecular biology, biochemistry, or a related field.
• previous experience with chromatin, pancreatic, and chemical biology
• high accuracy and reliability
• excellent interpersonal skills and ability to work in an international team
• good written and oral communication skills in English

Applicants should submit: a detailed letter of motivation and curriculum vitae, including the contact details of the PhD supervisor and two additional referees to application@cemm.at using the Reference Code: #PD SKub JDRF

Extended Deadline for Applications: 15 January 2013