How do mutations in chromatin regulators cause disease? Over half of human cancers contain mutations in chromatin regulators, but our lack of understanding of how these factors exert their function in healthy human cells hampers our ability to design optimal therapeutics. The successful candidate will undertake a four year research project with the goal of discovering novel factors that are critical for epigenetic repression. The project will be centered around the use of high-throughput genetic technologies to interrogate the mechanism of action of chromatin-modifying factors. You will generate fluorescent cell lines capable of reporting on the function of key repressive pathways, which you will then characterise using genome-wide CRISPR/Cas9-mediated genetic screens and other cutting-edge genetic techniques. You will first seek to understand how these factors mediate epigenetic silencing in healthy human cells, and then go on to consider how mutations in these factors might lead to dysregulation of gene expression in diseases such as cancer. At the end of the studentship you will have gained a broad range of key experimental and transferable skills, which will provide an effective springboard towards a successful research career in the biological sciences.
You will work in the Tchasovnikarova laboratory, based at the Gurdon Institute which is situated in the heart of historic Cambridge. The Gurdon is a thriving academic community which includes around 60 postgraduate students. You will also become a member of the Department of Biochemistry (our home department), which is located next door. Your academic and social life will be enhanced by your affiliation with Peterhouse College, through which you will have access to accommodation in central Cambridge and a wide variety of student clubs, societies and activities.
Further information can be found on the lab webpage, https://www.tchasovnikarova-lab.org/studentships
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