Predoctoral position available in Biomedical Engineering

Dr. Aranguren’s laboratory at the Center for Applied Medical Research (CIMA) - University of Navarra is seeking a highly motivated and talented early career researcher to join their team on an exciting project in the field of pluripotent stem cells.

Our research focuses on addressing key fundamental processes hindering the generation of humanized organs in pigs by blastocyst complementation. By tackling interspecies organogenesis in rat-mouse and human-pig models, we aim at understanding interspecies barriers and designing innovative methods to shorten the way for the production of transplantable organs in pigs.

Organ transplantation is, in many cases, the only life-saving treatment for end-stage organ failure. Nevertheless, the number of donor organs available is insufficient to cover the clinical demand. Generation of humanized organs from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) in animal recipients by blastocyst complementation would solve this bottleneck and provide an endless source of organs for clinical use. Blastocyst complementation is a technique based on the microinjection of exogenous PSCs in a preimplantational tissue-deficient embryo, and consists in the rescue of organ’s development through the colonization of the empty developmental niche by exogenous cells. With this technique, organ-deficient pig embryos could be used to generate humanized organs.

Our group has established at CIMA the technology for the generation of xeno-organs by blastocyst complementation using mouse models. We used this technique to produce exogenous heart and vascular systems in lineage-specific cell ablation mouse models by microinjecting mouse PSCs (intra-species) and rat PSCs (heart, inter-species) (Coppiello et al. 2023 Developmental Cell). We have also studied the heterogeneity of naïve hiPSC culture, describing their correlation with different cell populations of the pre-implantation human embryo (Moya et al. 2023 Stem Cell Reports). We have microinjected hiPSC in mouse and pig pre-implantation embryos under different conditions and have analyzed their integration capacity (unpublished results). In the lab, besides PSC culture and microinjection, we handle CRISPR / Cas9 gene editing techniques on cell lines, mouse and pig embryos, basic molecular biology techniques (PCR-qPCR-immunostaining…) and embryo histology, among others. We have a strong collaboration with the genomic and computational biology team at CIMA.

The proposed project consists in the development of different strategies to increase human iPSC chimeric potential, and in the generation of interspecific chimeras.

Qualifications for Predoctoral candidates :

• Master's degree in Biological Sciences.
• Background in molecular and cellular biology.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills.
• Ability to work both independently and as part of a collaborative research team.

Se ofrece :

Interested candidates should send a cover letter & CV through the application or to Dr. Xabier Aranguren. Reference letter(s) are appreciated.

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