We are looking for a highly motivated computational biologist to participate in an interdisciplinary team of translational scientists to advance the development of neoadjuvant immunotherapy for renal cell carcinoma.

Project
The Netherlands Cancer Institute is spearheading neo-adjuvant immunotherapy in multiple tumor types, with spectacular results, leading to a significant increase in the survival of patients. Our main area of research is in the pre-operative setting, which allows for extensive collection of patient materials pre- and on-treatment at different timepoints. These paired tumor tissues and blood provide us with the unique opportunity to study the effect of immunotherapy combination treatments on the cancer tumor microenvironment, providing novel insights to improve patient selection and develop new treatment strategies. Commonly used assays include whole exome whole transcriptome sequencing, imaging mass cytometry of the tumor microenvironment and single-cell sequencing.

Your role
Using these unique comprehensive datasets, you will work with clinicians, cancer researchers and immunologists to improve cancer treatment. Your bioinformatic analyses will center around analysis and integration of these multi-modal dataset to 1) understand why some patients respond and others do not; 2) use these insights to predict response to therapy and 3) develop novel therapeutic strategies. In addition to the analyses of bulk molecular profiles, an important aspect of your work will involve analysis of single cell RNA sequencing and integration with spatial imaging techniques to get a more in-depth picture of the cancer-immune-interactions.

Interdisciplinary team
You will be a key player in a translational research team with clinicians, cancer researchers, immunologists and computational scientists and you will be exposed to a broad spectrum of cancer immunology research. Your projects will be run in close collaboration with clinical Ph D students and teams from the department of Medical Oncology, Urology and Computational Cancer Biology. This is a highly collaborative environment, exploiting the power of ‘team science’. Dr. Koen van der Mijn works on the development of neoadjuvant immunotherapy for the treatment of urological cancers, predominantly renal cell carcinoma. He closely collaborates with Prof. Dr. John Haanen and Prof. Dr. Axel Bex in conducting clinical trials for patients with this malignancy. The Computational cancer biology group of Prof Dr Lodewyk Wessels is focused on quantifying and understanding treatment response in model systems and patients and developing innovative computational approaches to achieve that.

We are seeking an ambitious, creative computational biologist, with

• A strong interest in translational research
• A degree or have expertise in bioinformatics or a related discipline
• Experience in statistics, machine learning and/or pattern recognition
• Proficiency in bioinformatics programming languages (e.g. R, Python)
• Good cross-disciplinary collaborative and communication skills
• General background knowledge in biology and immunology
• Experience with projects involving genomics to identifying candidate targets and biomarkers is a plus

You will join a dynamic international research group. You will collaborate with scientists and clinicians with expertise in different disciplines. You will have the opportunity to follow high-quality courses offered by the NKI Ph D program.

Your temporary employment will be for a period of 4 years. The gross salary per month will be from € 3.523,- up to € 4.191,- for Ph D students. The terms of employment will be in accordance with the CAO Ziekenhuizen (Collective Labour Agreement for Hospitals).

Amsterdam is a vibrant city with many cultural amenities. The institute is located within a 20-minute tram or bicycle ride from the center of Amsterdam and within 20 minutes from Schiphol airport by car, bus or bicycle.

Interested?
For further information contact
Koen van der Mijn, k.vd.mijn@nki.nl
Lodewyk Wessels, l.wessels@nki.nl

Deadline: November 30 2024

Details

• Closing date: 30-11-2024
• Hours per week: 36
• Salary level: Dutch Collective Labour Agreement for Hospitals