PhD student in Computational Cancer Biology/Immunology

Project
The Netherlands Cancer Institute is spearheading neo-adjuvant immunotherapy in multiple tumor types, with spectacular results, leading to a significant increase in the survival of patients. Our main area of research is in the pre-operative setting, which allows for extensive collection of patient materials pre- and on-treatment at different timepoints. These paired tumor tissues and blood provide us with the unique opportunity to study the effect of immunotherapy combination treatments on the cancer tumor microenvironment, providing novel insights to improve patient selection and develop new treatment strategies. Commonly used assays include whole exome, whole transcriptome sequencing, imaging mass cytometry and single-cell sequencing. 

Your role
Using these unique comprehensive datasets, you will work with clinicians, cancer researchers and immunologists to improve cancer treatment. Your bioinformatic analyses will center around analysis and integration of these multi-modal datasets to 1) understand why some patients respond and others do not; 2) use these insights to predict response to therapy and 3) develop novel therapeutic strategies. In addition to the analyses of bulk molecular profiles, an important aspect of your work will involve analysis of single cell RNA sequencing and integration with spatial imaging techniques to get a more in-depth picture of the cancer-immune-interactions.

Interdisciplinary team
You will be a key player in a translational research team with clinicians, cancer researchers, immunologists and computational scientists and you will be exposed to a broad spectrum of cancer immunology research. Your projects will be run in close collaboration with clinical PhD students and teams from the department of Molecular Oncology and Immunology. This is a highly collaborative environment, exploiting the power of ‘team science’. The group of dr. Myriam Chalabi focuses on the development of innovative immunotherapy approaches in the treatment of gastrointestinal cancers as well as pan-cancer studies. The Computational cancer biology group of Prof dr Lodewyk Wessels is focused on quantifying and understanding treatment response in model systems and patients and develop innovative computational approaches to achieve that. 

We are seeking an ambitious, creative computational biologist, with 

• A strong interest in translational research;
• A degree or expertise in bioinformatics or a related discipline;
• Experience in statistics, machine learning and/or pattern recognition; 
• Proficiency in bioinformatics programming languages (e.g. R, Python);
• Good cross-disciplinary collaborative and communication skills; 
• Background knowledge in biology and immunology; 
• Experience with projects involving genomics to identifying candidate targets and biomarkers is a plus.

Your career opportunities and terms of employment

• You will join a dynamic international research group;
• You will collaborate with scientists and clinicians with expertise in different disciplines; 
• You will have the opportunity to follow high-quality courses offered by the NKI PhD program; 
• Your temporary employment will be for a period of 4 years; 
• The gross salary per month can range from € 3.523,- to €4.277,- (salary PhD student scale), depending on your experience; 
• The terms of employment will be in accordance with the CAO Hospitals;
• In addition, you will receive a fixed end-of-year bonus (8,33%) and you will receive 8,33% holiday pay; 
• Your travel expenses will be reimbursed at € 0,19 per km; 
• Free parking at the Antoni van Leeuwenhoek is also part of the package; 
• Personnel is stimulated to use public transport and bicycle and therefore we offer an interesting arrangement for bikers; 
• Amsterdam is a stunning city with many cultural amenities. The institute is located within a 20-minute tram or bicycle ride from the center of Amsterdam and within 20 minutes from Schiphol airport by car, bus or bicycle.

Interested?
Your application letter, CV and contact information of 2 references can be attached to the application form (link) on our website http://www.nki.nl/Research/Career/Vacancies/. 
Apply by the 'Apply now'  button at the bottom of the page.

Deadline: 
This vacancy is open until March 1st 2025

For further information about the position please contact 
Myriam Chalabi, m.chalabi@nki.nl 
Lodewyk Wessels, l.wessels@nki.nl

The Netherlands Cancer Institute is an equal opportunity employer and values diversity in its workforce.