The Biocenter Oulu is the forefront organization of biosciences and molecular medicine in the University of Oulu, Finland. The functional genomics laboratory of Dr. Gonghong Wei at the Center is inviting application for a PhD student or postdoc position in gene regulation and regulatory genomics. We are also looking for exchanging PhD students and scholars from China.  

The research group focuses on functional roles of the ETS family transcription factors in the cell growth control, prostate cancer and leukemia. There are 27 ETS members in the human genome and 26 in mouse, respectively. We aim to address how the oncogenic ETS family members contribute targeting specificity in a cancer-type specific manner and what mechanisms make the ETS factors conferring specific biological roles in vivo? We will apply ChIP-seq, FAIRE-seq, DNase-seq and 3C-derived methods in combination with the next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology to map ETS cistrome, epigenetic profile, open chromatin context and long-range chromatin interactome. We will also perform RNA-seq/Affymetrix chip to capture the transcriptome landscape/expression profiling after perturbation of individual ETS member. The resulting regulatory genomic data will be further applied to determining the functional genetic variants identified by genome-wide association studies. The critical ETS targets of clinical interest will be deeply validated in multiple animal models including transgenic and knockin/out mouse. The selected publications are listed below:

Wei et al., Charting gene regulatory networks: strategies, challenges and perspectives. Biochemical Journal. 2004. 381: 1-12.

Wei et al., Chromatin domain boundaries: insulators and beyond. Cell Research. 2005. 15: 292-300.

Tuupanen et al., The common colorectal cancer predisposition SNP rs6983267 at chromosome 8q24 confers potential to enhanced Wnt signaling. Nat Genetics. 2009. 41: 885-890.

Wei et al., Genome-Wide Analysis of ETS Family DNA-Binding in vitro and in vivo. The EMBO Journal. 2010. 29: 2147-60.

Wei et al., Integrative Genomic Analysis of ETS Transcription Factor Target Genes and Regulatory Polymorphisms. 2011. In Manuscipt (for discussion upon request)

Link for full publications, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=wei%20gonghong%20or%20wei%20gong%20hong

Qualifications
The candidate should hold or have a to-be-achieved MSc or PhD in molecular cell biology or a related field as well as strong motivation to work in a dynamic and challenging research area of molecular medicine. The ideal candidate should have excellent communication skills in English and strong expertise in gene transcriptional regulation. Previous experience in mouse models is desirable. The candidate with expertise or interest in bioinformatics (NGS data analysis) is a big plus. Interested candidates please email your CV, statement of research interests, and the contact information of two or three references to gonghong.wei@helsinki.fi before 28.8.2011.

The salary will be competitive and commensurate with experience of the candidate. In addition, I will write proposal for the PhD student to apply four-year position from the Biocenter Oulu Graduate School. I will also assist in proposal writing for the 3-year postdoc position application from the Academy of Finland and build your independent project.  Please feel free to contact me for further details.

Gonghong Wei (PhD, Group leader), Biocenter Oulu and Deparment of Medical Biochemistry and Molecular Biology P.O.Box 5000 (Aapistie 5)
FIN-90014 University of Oulu
Finland