PhD Student : Switzerland, Geneva

Description
A PhD student position is available at a new research laboratory which is a joint endeavor of the Department of Structural Biology and Bioinformatics (DBSB) at the Faculty of Medicine of the Geneva University and of the Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics (ISB).
The research project will form part of the CALIPHO initiative (Computational Analysis and Laboratory Investigation of Proteins of Human Origin), which combines molecular and cellular biological methods, in vivo experiments on model organisms and bioinformatics to decipher the function of the numerous uncharacterized human proteins. The identification of novel biological messengers such as hormones, growth factors or cytokines often represents landmark discoveries, with significant impact for both fundamental and applied science. The recent completion of the annotation of the human proteome by the Swiss-Prot group demonstrated that about 2’000 human proteins are still lacking experimental annotations. Among those, some have the profile of potential biological messengers (small secreted proteins). These candidates will be validated and characterized using a series of in vitro (analysis of expression of the cloned genes) and ex vivo experiments (detection of gene expression in tissue samples), resulting in (i) a first level of characterization for the new proteins and (ii) the development of a reduced and filtered set of candidates, from which a panel of three will be chosen for further characterization, based on assessment of tractability and potential impact. In the final phase of the project, these three carefully chosen proteins will be produced and subjected to more in depth analysis (screening for activity on cells and tissues, structural studies, physiological effects) in an attempt to elucidate their functions. This project should lead to (i) the preliminary characterization of a large panel of secreted proteins of unknown function, (ii) an initial assessment of the utility of using a systematic approach, indicating which areas require optimization, and (iii) the in-depth characterization of 1-3 new human secreted biological messengers.

Requirements
Master 2 in biology or biochemistry or equivalent diploma.
Further information (job start, deadline, adress) on:http://www.myscience.ch/en/jobs_and_careers/id5303