Offer for a predoctoral position linked to project "PERMET2CAN"

Tecnun - Escuela de Ingeniería-Universidad de Navarra; Donostia/San Sebastián; Presencial; EUR 30.000 - 50.000; Jornada completa

Descripción de la vacante

A prestigious engineering school in San Sebastián is seeking a candidate for a research position focusing on interpretable deep learning to infer cellular transcriptional and metabolic changes in cancer. The ideal applicant will hold a degree in engineering and a relevant master's degree, along with solid English skills. This role will entail developing a framework guided by biological information to better understand cancer's transcriptional and metabolic dynamics. The project is funded and has a maximum duration of four years.

Formación

• Degree in engineering field required.
• Master's degree in relevant areas is essential.
• Candidate must have knowledge of English.

Responsabilidades

• Develop a framework using interpretable deep learning.
• Infer transcriptional and metabolic changes from genetic perturbations.
• Characterize underlying transcription regulatory mechanisms.

Conocimientos

Engineering (Telecommunications, Biomedical Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, Computer Science)

Knowledge of English

Educación

Master's degree in Engineering or related areas

Descripción del empleo

Title of the project to which the candidate would be incorporated :

"Interpretable deep learning for inferring cellular transcriptional and metabolic changes of genetic perturbations in cancer (PERMET2CAN)"

PID2024-160726OB-I00 - Call : Knowledge Generation Projects 2024

Object of the position :

The main objective of the project is to develop a new framework based on interpretable Deep Learning (DL) to jointly infer transcriptional outcomes and metabolic changes associated with genetic perturbations. The design of the DL model will be guided by a priori biological information and will take into account two simultaneous objectives. Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-Seq) data from perturbation experiments will be used. The proposed framework will allow identifying key cellular responses, transcriptional and metabolic, resulting from genetic perturbations. Understanding transcriptional changes to genetic perturbations is central to identifying genetic interactions in cancer. Similarly, understanding the role of metabolism in cancer not only provides insights into the fundamental biology of cancer, but also highlights potential avenues for the development of targeted therapies. Combining these two outcomes in a single framework will allow us to better characterize the underlying transcription regulatory mechanisms associated with cancer and identify possible targets to revert aberrant transcriptional and metabolic alterations.

Required qualifications :

• Degree in engineering (Telecommunications, Biomedical Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, Computer Science)
• Master's degree in areas related to engineering and / or artificial intelligence or data science

Additional information :

• Project director: Idoia Ochoa
• Duration: Maximum duration 4 years
• The endowment : cannot be 75% of the salary set for equivalent categories in the collective agreements of its scope of application during any of the annuities
• Financing entity: Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities
• Grant PID2024-160726OB-I00 funded by MICIU / AEI / 10.13039 / 501100011033 and by the FSE+.

Documentation to be presented :

• CV
• References
• Detailed academic certification of the studies carried out
• Adequacy of the candidate to the research activities to be developed
• Knowledge of English

Selection criteria :

Criterion 1. Academic and / or scientific-technical trajectory of the candidate (up to 50 points).

Sub-criterion 1.a) : Scientific-technical contributions (up to 45 points). The academic record and other curricular merits of the candidate will be valued, as well as their suitability for the tasks to be carried out according to their training and professional experience.

Sub-criterion 1.b) : Mobility and internationalization (up to 5 points). The relevance and impact on his / her research career of the candidate's stays in national and international centers and / or in the industrial sector will be valued, taking into account the prestige of the entity receiving the stay and the activity developed in it.

Criterion 2. Adequacy of the candidate to the research activities to be developed (up to 50 points).

The person's suitability for the program, project or research activities to be developed will be valued based on their previous training and experience. For this, the added value that the realization of the project will represent for his / her research career, as well as the value contributed to the center and the receiving team will be taken into account.