OPPORTUNITIES
We are always excited to hear from passionate and driven scientists! If you're interested in joining our team, please reach out via email—there may be open opportunities waiting for you.
We are hiring!
Title
Imaging based multi-omics to Overcome Tumor Resistance in Immunotherapy
Position
40 h per week
34 months
Starting date April 2025
Dep.
Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas Sols-Morreale
Group
Dr. Maria Alieva (www.imAIgene-lab.com)
Contact
Malieva _at_ iib.uam.es
Job description
Successful application of T-Cell Immunotherapy (T-CI) to treat solid tumors has been limited, in part due to tumors only partially responding to treatment, also known as heterogeneity in treatment response. Patient-derived organoids (PDOs) are valuable tools for exploring such tumor heterogeneity, as they reliably mimic patient responses, and are increasingly used together with T-CI to evaluate treatment efficacy. Combined with live cell imaging, these co-culture models allow to visualize highly dynamic T cell behaviors and identify how therapeutic cells kill heterogenous tumor cells.
We recently developed BEHAV3D, a technology platform that provides a way to segment and track cells from these datasets over time and analyse their behavioural patterns. Our pioneering work, showed that the analysis of T-CI dynamics can be potentially applied to investigate how different types of T-CI therapy kill solid tumours and guide next-generation therapy development. For next-generation BEHAV3D you will a new segmentation and tracking approach to learn and extract features from dynamic imaging data to predict the T-CI behavioral composition. Using this dynamic information you will develop a multiomics methods to integrate imaging with sequencing data to map tumor heterogenous resistance mechanisms linked to distinct T cell behavioral patterns.
Required Profile
- Bachelor degree in biology or similar (having a PhD would be an asset but is not obligatory)
- Relevant background in these areas: computational biology, image analysis, time-series data, next generation sequencing, transcriptomics, database management and development, software development.
- highly motivated and creative
- skill set: coding (Python, C++), problem solving, analytical thinking, fluent in English, interest to work in a highly collaborative and interdisciplinary environment.
Offer
- CSIC TSFC1 contract – 41098,95 eu bruto annual remuneration.
About the group and the organisation
Biomedical science has entered the era of 'Big Data,' which offers opportunities to address major challenges in clinical approaches to oncology. These challenges include understanding the role of the tumor microenvironment in cancer progression, patient heterogeneity, the mode of action of immunotherapy, and treatment resistance. To tackle these challenges, it is crucial to comprehend the spatial-temporal organization of tumors, which requires visualization techniques at the single-cell level, such as live microscopy. Although modern optical technologies can generate complex imaging data, the lack of appropriate tools and experts for processing and analysis often leads to underutilization of this data. In the imAIgene-lab, we employ computational tools from various fields, including computer vision, single-cell technologies, and data analytics, to convert dynamic imaging data into meaningful biological information that can be leveraged to study drug response prediction, combinatorial treatment in immune-oncology, and personalized AI-based diagnostics and treatment.
The "Alberto Sols" Biomedical Research Institute (IIBM) is a prominent center in Spain jointly operated by the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas (CSIC) and the Universidad Autonoma de Madrid (UAM). It is dedicated to biomedical research and comprises three main research areas: Pathophysiology, Metabolism and Cell Signalling, and Cancer Biology. IIBM is located on the UAM School of Medicine campus, with personnel from the CSIC and UAM's Biochemistry Department.
Additionally in the group we work in close collaboration with The Rios’ group (also named Dream3DLab) from the Prinses Maxima Center for paediatric oncology in the Netherlands. This multi-disciplinary team is composed of experts in imaging and organoid technology, bioengineers and computational scientists to develop 3D technology platforms to target the spatio-dynamic features of cancer and advance immunotherapy in a patient personalized manner. Through this joined collaboration and complementary techniques, together, we innovate fundamental and translational cancer research, offering technology platforms with high potential to accelerate personalized medicine and improve treatment guidance.
Please enclose in your application:
- your letter of motivation
- your Curriculum vitae
- Link to github page or similar