About the position
Many mutations in the cancer genome sit outside genes, in non-coding DNA, where they can still change how distant genes are switched on. This PhD develops machine learning methods to find which of these non-coding mutations matter in cancer, and which genes they affect.
The methods will combine how proteins bind to DNA, epigenetic marks that control gene activity, and how the genome folds in three dimensions, using single-cell data. You will work in EpiGen, a research unit run by the University of Oslo and Akershus University Hospital, alongside molecular biologists, physicists and pathologists, with partners in the United States. The post is funded by the Research Council of Norway.
What you will do
- Develop data-mining and network-analysis methods for 3D genome regulation.
- Predict which non-coding mutations are functional and which distant genes they target.
- Test the predictions against experimental cancer data, both from living systems and from the lab.
- Depending on your progress, you may spend three to six months in a collaborating lab in the United States.
Who can apply
- A five-year master's degree, ideally in bioinformatics or computational biology. An MSc in physics, computer science, applied mathematics or statistics is also welcome if you are keen to learn molecular biology and genetics.
- Grades at Norwegian levels of C or better across your bachelor's, and B or better across your master's and for your master's thesis.
- Documented skills in statistics, data mining and machine learning; programming in shell script, R, Python and C; and analysis of big data and sequencing data.
- Good spoken and written English.
- An advantage: experience with ChIP-seq, ATAC-seq, RNA-seq, Hi-C or similar data, and with combining several types of omics data.
What is offered
- A three-year, full-time post as a Doctoral Research Fellow, with no teaching duties, paid NOK 550,800 to 600,000 a year depending on experience.
- From the salary, 2% goes to the State Pension Fund, which gives membership of one of Norway's best pension schemes, with good mortgage and insurance terms.
- Start as soon as possible. The workplace is the university's Ahus campus in Lørenskog, just outside Oslo.
How to apply
- Apply through Jobbnorge, the University of Oslo's recruitment system, linked below. All documents must be in English or a Scandinavian language, and nothing can be added after the deadline.
- A cover letter on your motivation and research interests, and a CV covering your education, posts and publications.
- A copy of your master's thesis, and up to five publications or other works for the committee to consider.
- Certified copies of your bachelor's and master's diplomas and transcripts, and proof of English if required.
- Contact details for at least three referees, with their institutional email addresses.