Identifying new molecular targets in multi-omics of advanced prostate cancer

Background and aims:
As prostate cancer is the second most common cancer worldwide it has an enormous effect on society. Approximately half of the patients with high risk forms of prostate cancer develop metastases, and once in this stage, the disease becomes incurable. Curing high risk prostate cancer patients therefore requires a timely and adequate treatment before it becomes incurable. This is a true race against the clock: treatment must be administered before patients metastasize and the right choice of treatment has to be decided as soon as possible after diagnosis.Prostate cancer is driven by male hormones. Currently, hormone treatment is generally used at later stages of the disease, but our lab investigates its use before metastasis arises. If effective, this type of early treatment could become a game changer that would reduce the amount of incurable prostate cancers. It is paramount, however, that such hormone treatment is adequately applied: as early as possible and only to those patients that will benefit from it, thus preventing overtreatment and unnecessary suffering.

What you will be doing:
During this PhD you will perform molecular profiling on both protein (IHC, WB), RNA (both bulk, single nuclei and spatial transcriptomics) and DNA (CNA, Whole Genome/Exome Seq and methylation) on samples from prostate cancer patients in clinical trials covering different settings of their disease. As a member of our interdisciplinary team, you will share the ambition to truly impact clinical care by extensive molecular profiling of the effects of different treatments in these prostate cancer samples. This will lead to a deep understanding of the tumoral response to hormone treatments. Your ultimate aim will be to identify predictive markers that will identify the patients who will benefit from additional treatments from those who can be withheld treatment safely. This PhD will therefore be a game changer for the future prostate cancer management and your findings will be translated into next generation clinical trials.

Profile

We seek a PhD candidate with exceptional promise in interdisciplinary research and theoretical knowledge in general molecular biology and hormone action. The candidate has a master degree in (bio)medical sciences, (bio)engineering, pharmacy or related discipline with a strong education in molecular biology. You can work in a group, with a good level of independence, as you will be learning complex experimentations as well as the design of new methodologies. You are detail-oriented, pro-active and continuously striving to improve yourself. You take responsibility for your analyses and place your scientific integrity above anything else.You will become a member of a multi-disciplinary team. The work will include frequent interactions with international researchers and industry. Therefore, you must have excellent communication skills, be a team player and have multi-tasking skills. You are proficient in oral and written English and are willing to travel.

Offer

We offer a full-time one-year PhD position, with available funding for extensions up to four years. The Molecular Endocrinology Laboratory is part of the Department for Cellular and Molecular Medicine. All state-of-the-art equipment and sufficient funding is available. The laboratory is part of the Leuven Translational Prostate Cancer Research Group, a dynamic multidisciplinary team of clinicians and translational researchers.We offer excellent career development opportunities through international and national interactions with translational and clinical laboratories and pharmaceutical industry.

We also offer limited teaching experience, if desired.KU Leuven seeks to foster an environment where all talents can flourish, regardless of gender, age, cultural background, nationality or impairments. If you have any questions relating to accessibility or support, please contact us at diversiteit.HR@kuleuven.be.Interested?You can apply for this job no later than March 15th, 2022 via the online application tool or via email. We will request a motivation letter and an extensive CV to be added to your application. Promising candidates will be invited for an interview.

Interested?

For more information please contact Prof. dr. Frank Claessens, tel.: +32 16 33 02 53, mail: frank.claessens@kuleuven.be or Wout.Devlies@kuleuven.be or Prof. dr. Steven Joniau, mail: Steven.Joniau@uzleuven.be

You can apply for this job no later than March 15, 2022 via the online application tool

KU Leuven seeks to foster an environment where all talents can flourish, regardless of gender, age, cultural background, nationality or impairments. If you have any questions relating to accessibility or support, please contact us at diversiteit.HR@kuleuven.be