Postdoctoral Research Assistant (100%) in Zürich

The position is offered in the Computational Biology (Claassen) Group in the Institute of Molecular Systems Biology at ETH Zürich, which focuses on concepts from statistics, machine learning and mathematical optimization to describe biological systems from single cell data. The position will involve research in the interdisciplinary consortium PRECISE, comprising researchers at ETH Zurich, University of Zurich and the University Hospitals of Zurich, Basel, Bern and Lausanne. Research in this consortium builds on recent advances in immunotherapy in the treatment of patients suffering from chronic inflammatory disease. While the successes of immunotherapy are decisive, several inflammatory diseases remain untreatable. The identification of disease biomarkers of therapy responses is therefore a fundamental and urgent goal of personalized medicine.

PRECISE aims at identification of such biomarkers and proposes to acquire liquid and solid biopsies from patients suffering from chronic inflammatory disease, with a focus on those treated with immunotherapy. This material will be part of multiple independently ongoing clinical studies carried out in various Swiss clinical institutions, namely University Hospitals in Zürich, Basel, Bern and Lausanne. High-dimensional single cell cytometry combined with computer-aided analysis will be used to identify cell type signatures, i.e. possibly rare, disease relevant cell subpopulations as reliable biomarkers and novel therapeutic targets. The candidate will apply and develop deep learning approaches to identify therapy response associated cell subsets and instruct further in-depth experiments for these cell subsets. Further, identified signature cell types will be subjected to proteomic and epigenetic screening to provide an in-depth view of the biochemical state of disease-relevant cell types. Upon validation in independent patient cohorts, this information will then be used to stratify patients prior to immunotherapy to maximize the therapeutic impact and to minimize adverse effects as well as to provide new personalized therapeutic targets for immune-intervention across the Swiss wide patient population.

We look forward to receiving your online application including a letter of motivation, full CV, diplomas, degree(s) and two references. Please note that we exclusively accept applications submitted through our online application portal. Applications via email or postal services will not be considered.