At the EPFL in Lausanne, Switzerland, we, Prof. Beat Fierz & Prof. Vassily Hatzimanikatis, offer a joint PhD position at the interface of biophysics and systems biology. In this exciting interdisciplinary project, funded by the Swiss SystemsX initiative, you will combine theoretical modelling and single molecule experiments, to analyze and predict the chromatin signaling outcomes of multivalent epigenetic effector proteins.
EPFL is one of the most prestigious research universities (ranked #14 worldwide) and provides an extremely stimulating research environment, and top level infrastructure. Furthermore, EPFL is situated in a very beautiful location in Lausanne, Switzerland, and centrally located in Europe less than an hour from Geneva, 2 h from Zürich and 4 h from Paris.
Welcome to EPFL
Project Background:
Chromatin, the nucleoprotein complex encompassing the eukaryotic genetic material, is highly chemically modified. Combinations of these post-translational modifications form a molecular language, interpreted by protein ‘readers’ or effectors, which results in a defined biological output. Due to the critical role of chromatin in cell function, differentiation and disease a deeper insight into these processes is of critical importance for the development of advanced treatments.
We recently developed a single-molecule assay based on total internal reflection microscopy (Kilic et al., Nature Commun., 2015) that allows to directly monitor effector protein interaction dynamics with modified chromatin fibers. Our goal is to quantitatively predict signaling outcomes, based on a chemical understanding of effector affinity, avidity, concentration, chromatin architecture and modification state, as well as to characterize the role of noise in the system. In this PhD project, you will perform single-molecule measurements and develop a theoretical framework to integrate quantitative interaction data to obtain a molecular description of chromatin signaling. Such a quantitative investigation will then allow us to integrate the chromatin node into quantitative models of signaling networks for systems biology studies.
As a PhD student at EPFL, you will join our internationally recognized PhD program in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering:http://phd.epfl.ch/edchmainpage
As the EPFL environment is very international, the project language as well as the general spoken language in the laboratories is English. Thus, good English skills (spoken and written) are a prerequisite.
If you have a Master degree and a background in biophysics, systems biology or related fields and are interested, send a cover letter, CV and the contact information of 3 referees to[email protected].
As a PhD student at EPFL, you will join our internationally recognized PhD program in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering: http://phd.epfl.ch/edchmainpage
As the EPFL environment is very international, the project language as well as the general spoken language in the laboratories is English. Thus, good English skills (spoken and written) are a prerequisite.
If you have a Master degree and a background in biophysics, systems biology or related fields and are interested, send a cover letter, CV and the contact information of 3 referees to [email protected].
