PRR Project

Summary

The tasks to be assigned to the prospective employee are:Undertake competitive and innovative research in the area of epigeneticsEstablish international collaborations with leaders in the fieldPublish in high-impact journalsDisseminate results in internationally renowned scientific meetingsContribute to teaching activities related to human genetics and biomedical researchApply for grants in competitive callsRepresent the institution in scientific and educational meetingsCoordinate research projectsSupervision of Doctoral and Master studentsParticipation in postgraduation coursesScientific profile requiredPh.D. in Human Biology obtained more than 12 years ago (according to the criteria of FCT-CEEC Individual Calls)National and international funding as Principal Investigator in scientific projectsPublication of more than 25 articles in PubMed-indexed journals, with at least 2500 citationsMore than 20 years of research experience in the field of epigeneticsNational and international collaborations demonstrated by co-authorships in scientific publicationsSupervision of Doctoral and Master studentsThe rationale for the need to hire for the scientific area of Basic Medicine:Epigenetics plays a crucial role in gene expression control, and epigenetic marks´ deregulation is involved in several human diseases, such as imprinting syndromes and cancer. Epimutations may underlie the etiopathology of several diseases but are often disregarded. Hence, in basic medicine, epigenetics constitutes a new avenue of research in the quest for innovative diagnostic and therapeutic approaches. The researcher will have extensive expertise in the field of epigenetics and established national and international collaborations with renowned leaders in the field. With this position, it is expected to create an epigenetic research hub within the Host Institution and Associate Laboratory. For that, it is expected that the researcher will already have international recognition amongst peers, depicted by a high number of citations of published works in prestigious journals.Research in Basic Medicine is one of the pillars of the host institution and Associate Laboratory, with the aim to provide better healthcare services and contribute to the development of diagnostic and therapeutic tools in a fast-growing and flourishing field of human genetics in the context of genetic diseases.Relevance of the scientific profile in the context of the state-of-the-art:Epigenetics has been an active topic of research since the first discoveries that DNA methylation (the addition of a methyl group to cytosines located in CpG dinucleotides) plays a role in several physiological processes such as silencing of transposons, oncogenesis, genomic imprinting, and X-chromosome inactivation. The researcher will be an active member of the international epigenetics community and have contributed in the past with important publications in the field. In what concerns the state of the art, it is important that the candidate will have expertise in the techniques utilized to analyze epigenetic modifications and a deep knowledge of epigenetic regulation of gene expression in the context of human biology.