research fellow Brighton, England
Job description
Applications are invited for the post of Research Fellow in Cancer Research (non-clinical) at Brighton and Sussex Medical School (BSMS). We are looking to recruit a scientist with a strong background in cancer research, or a related discipline to work on a recently awarded Blood Cancer UK project grant.
The appointee will join our internationally recognised haemato-oncology research team. The Haemato-oncology group is a successful collaborative partnership between clinicians and scientists based in the Medical Research Building at BSMS. The laboratory-based ‘Pepper Team’ (https://pepper.science) and computational systems biology ‘Mitchell Team’ (https://mitchell.science) currently represent the two largest groupings. Our main areas of expertise are in modelling the tumour microenvironment, understanding the role of NF-kB in disease progression and the development of drug resistance and the pre-clinical evaluation of novel targeted agents. The successful candidate will benefit from our strong network of national and international collaborators and our established links with academic medicinal chemists and pharmaceutical companies. The selected candidate will be part of the vibrant Haematology Research Group, spanning BSMS and the University of Sussex (https://www.bsms.ac.uk/research/clinical-and-experimental-medicine/cancer/hrg/haematology-research-group.aspx).
We are seeking a motivated and enthusiastic candidate with a PhD in a relevant area, who can demonstrate technical expertise in a range of laboratory techniques, ideally including tissue culture and flow cytometry. Computational skills are also desirable but the opportunity for training in computational biology will be available.
Project title: Using NF-κB ‘fingerprints’ to identify therapeutic vulnerabilities within subsets of B cell malignancies.
Although there have been major advances in treatments for B cell malignancies, heterogeneity both between and within diseases contribute to the variable responses to current therapies. Therefore, there is an urgent need for personalised strategies to accurately predict the optimal drug/drug combination for an individual patient. Aberrant NF-κB transcription is a major player in B cell malignancies and is activated by numerous signalling pathways within the tumour microenvironment (BCR, TLR9, CD40L etc) resulting in proliferation and upregulation of anti-apoptotic proteins. The NF-κB signalling network is comprised of multiple components, which can be activated by different stimuli, giving rise to distinct NF-κB states. We have developed a novel flow cytometry-based NF-κB fingerprinting assay and demonstrated distinct expression patterns between and within different CLL patient samples and DLBCL cell lines. We propose that these different NF-κB fingerprints, coupled with nuclear NF-κB subunit activity, and global gene transcription states, are the key to identifying therapeutic vulnerabilities in individual tumours. The project will generate experimental data, using primary CLL cells and DLBCL cell lines, to create a library of NF-κB signalling states, and then use this library to inform mechanistic mathematical modelling/simulations. The ultimate goal of this interdisciplinary project is to exploit computational models to accurately identify the ‘right drug(s) for the right patient’ and then experimentally test these predictions in the laboratory using patient-derived tumour samples.
For informal enquiries, please contact Professor Chris Pepper ([email protected]), Professor Andrea Pepper ([email protected]) or Dr. Simon Mitchell ([email protected]) at Brighton and Sussex Medical School.
The University is committed to equality and valuing diversity, and applications are particularly welcomed from women and black and minority ethnic candidates, who are under-represented in academic posts in Science, Technology, Engineering, Medicine and Mathematics (STEMM) at Sussex.
The University of Sussex values the diversity of its staff and students and we welcome applicants from all backgrounds.
You can find out more about our values and our EDI Strategy, Inclusive Sussex, on our webpages.
