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Are you interested in a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship at the UEF Cancer Research Community?

Call for expressions of interest in a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Postdoctoral Fellowship at the UEF Cancer Research Community

What RC Cancer can offer to a postdoctoral researcher at the UEF?

The Multidisciplinary Cancer Research Community (RC Cancer) builds upon the translational cancer research cluster within the University of Eastern Finland and Kuopio University Hospital Cancer Centre, where researchers engaged in clinical and basic research join forces to fight cancer. We bring together the expertise on the molecular mechanisms, genomics and quantitative imaging features of cancer, with clinical understanding of the diagnostics and treatment. Our goal is to bring personalized medicine into cancer prevention and care. In addition, our research covers the health economics challenges caused by cancer. In data science, we focus on detecting anomalies in cancer sample data, such as images, omics data, and registries. We are creating algorithms that can learn from this data to identify and predict risk of cancer and outcome factors. The Biobank of Eastern Finland and Kuopio Data Lake serve the research community with high quality sample collections and clinical data.

RC Cancer at UEF offers postdoctoral researchers an internationally recognized, unique biomedical research environment with an exciting combination of basic and translational research. Situated in the University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland, RC Cancer operates works in close collaboration with Kuopio University Hospital. RC Cancer helps its members to conduct multidisciplinary, competitive science through an enhanced research environment with a significant methodological and knowledge base. With intensive and active collaboration and networking both within the consortium as well as with other RCs and international partners, we create opportunities, help recognize possibilities, and provide support to reach more ambitious research goals. Researchers at RC Cancer are able to work closely with the hospital as well as other institutes and departments of the university. RC Cancer organises events in career development, mentoring, and networking.

Research areas: We welcome expressions of interest in any research topics in which RC Cancer is involved -  Treatment resistance and precision medicine; Prevention and clinical outcome within a defined population;  Intelligent drug discovery and targeting based on applied data science in multidisciplinary oncology; Integration of multimodal data to create risk and outcome prediction tools.

Examples of research group descriptions:

Mannermaa research team

Research concentrates in finding potential biomarker candidates for breast, ovarian/endometrial cancer (biomarkers that inform on the stage of cancer, predict relapse or drug response/patient outcome). Cancer prevention by using deep machine learning in identifying networks of interacting risk factors. Ex vivo modelling of cancer therapy. Multimodal data including genomic, epigenomic, and both clinical imaging and demographic data is analyzed using Innovative machine learning approaches and state of the art laboratory methods. We also study the role of extracellular vesicles in the cancer microenvironment, and the evolutionary mechanisms of breast cancer through liquid biopsy-based analyses. Highly motivated candidates are encouraged to apply for positions.

Lab Ketola, Cancer Cell Plasticity

Approximately one fifth of prostate cancer patients with castration-resistant disease treated with antiandrogens develop a form of prostate cancer that is completely independent of androgen receptor signalling, which fuels tumour growth. Analyses of the pathology and genomics of these patient tumours have shown that tumour cells adapt cancer stem cell and neuronal cell characteristics. We study the molecular mechanisms of cellular plasticity and treatment resistance in prostate cancer and aim at characterising novel therapeutic targets, biomarkers, and targeted therapies against aggressive, treatment resistant prostate cancer subtypes including treatment-induced neuroendocrine prostate cancer. We utilise state-of-the-art high-throughput live-cell and super-resolution imaging, drug discovery pipelines, including target identification and mechanistic validations, protein production, drug virtual screening and drug-target binding assays, biomarker studies from patient blood including analysis of extracellular vesicles with single-cell RNA-seq, single-cell ATAC-seq and genomic studies from patients and prostate cancer models. We have multiple novel drug targets and biomarkers under mechanistic investigation, and the candidate could join these projects either from the beginning or at the drug discovery validation stages.

Lab Heinäniemi

Our research is focused on elucidating disease mechanisms that are related to aberrant regulation of cell states. Genome-wide technologies can reveal the collective activity of the genome, even at single cell resolution. These readouts capture the repertoire of cell states in tissues. We study regulatory mechanisms that control changes in cell states, such as those active during cell differentiation or in response to cellular stress. The most common type of cancer in children develops as a consequence of arrested cell differentiation of early lymphoid precursor cells. We apply state-of-the-art single cell genomics methods to study the regulatory network across different leukemia subtypes and the changes in the bone marrow cell populations during drug therapy. To translate genomics into clinical practice, we perform this profiling in primary patient samples and develop data analysis tools that allow determining at unprecedented resolution the alterations in cancer cells. Candidates with interest in computational biomedicine (application of machine learning, systems biology, bioinformatics) are encouraged to apply for positions.

The specific research topic for an MCSA Postdoctoral Fellowship application will be designed together with a research group within RC Cancer.


Eligibility and requirements: Candidates are expected to hold a PhD degree in biology, biochemistry, bioinformatics, biotechnology, computer science, genetics, mathematics, medicine, or other related fields Candidates are also expected to have good problem solving, troubleshooting, and analytical skills, be fluent in English, have good interpersonal and written and oral communication skills, and be able to work independently as well as within an international team.

MCSA Postdoctoral Fellowship

We now invite expressions of interest from potential postdoctoral researchers in applying jointly with a research group within RC Cancer for a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Postdoctoral Fellowship. Main objectives of the MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships are (i) foster excellence through the implementation of a research project, (ii) enhance the creative and innovative potential of researches holding a PhD (training on transferable skills and & career development), (iii) focus on international, inter-sectional and interdisciplinary mobility, and (iiii) bridges with an exposure to the non-academic sector. The Postdoctoral Fellowship is a mono-beneficiary action to support post-doctoral research and careers with European Postdoctoral Fellowships coming to Europe from any country in the world or moving within Europe.

The European Fellowships funding is for 12-24 months. As a new feature, there is possibility for secondment that can be up to 1/3 of the fellowship duration. Also an optional additional placement of up to 6 months in a non-academic European organisation at the end of the regular duration of the fellowship.

  • Applicant can be of any nationality.
  • Applicant must have a doctoral degree and max 8 years full-time equivalent experience in research after doctoral degree by the time of the Call deadline.
  • Mobility requirement: Applicant who has not resided in Finland for more than 12 months during the past 36 months immediately prior to the Call deadline.
  • The applicant must have a supervisor in the receiving host institute.

The grant covers recruited researchers’ living allowance, a mobility allowance, and if applicable, also a family allowance, long-term leave allowance and special needs allowance.  Individual researchers prepare and submit proposals for funding together with their planned supervisor/host organisation. Proposals are judged on their excellence, impact and the quality and efficiency of the implementation.

 More information about MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship is available at: Funding & tenders (europa.eu)

How to express your interest in postdoctoral research at RC Cancer?

Candidates are invited to express their interest in applying for a Postdoctoral Fellowship in a  research group within RC Cancer no later than 30 July 2021 by completing the online application form and submitting a CV and a motivation letter in English at https://link.webropolsurveys.com/S/24A9A1725497D86A

An expression of interest is not a promise of funding or position. Review of expressions of interest will be finished and candidates informed by 9 August 2021. Evaluation is based on research quality, the researcher's future career prospects and the availability of suitable supervision.

The final MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship funding application will be prepared in collaboration between the relevant research group leader of RC Cancer and the selected postdoctoral candidate. The deadline for final applications is 12 October 2021.

For further information about UEF RC Cancer, please visit Multidisciplinary Cancer Research (CANCER) | University of Eastern Finland (uef.fi).

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