Post-Doctoral Research Associate

Full-time: 35 hours a week

Fixed-term: 30 months

The Opportunity:

An exciting postdoctoral position is available to research the role of epigenetic marks in gene regulation.

We are looking for a self-motivated, enthusiastic postdoctoral research associate to join the laboratory of Dr Duncan Sproul at the University of Edinburgh’s Institute of Genetics and Cancer to understand the role of DNA methylation in gene regulation. This project is a close collaboration with 3 other groups based at the Universities of Edinburgh and Exeter. 

We have recently characterised mutations that prevent the DNA methyltransferase DNMT3B from being recruited to actively transcribed gene bodies (Taglini et al. 2024, EMBO Reports 25:1130, DOI: 10.1038/s44319-024-00061-5). Our new project will use this knowledge combined with recently developed synthetic approaches as an entry point to probe the non-canonical regulation of transcription by DNA methylation within gene bodies and its functional impact on cellular phenotypes.

The successful candidate will work with the Sproul and collaborating laboratories as part of a successful multidisciplinary research team. This project will have a particular emphasis on the use of sequencing based functional genomics assays (eg TT-seq, CUT&RUN, Nanopore sequencing) in human embryonic stem cell models and work with synthetic landing-pad based approaches.

Candidates who have been awarded, or are soon to be awarded, a PhD in a relevant discipline and have experience with a broad range of molecular biology, cellular biology, biochemistry and/or computational data analysis approaches are invited to apply. Applicants must possess the ability to think independently while working within an interdisciplinary research team to drive research projects towards publication. Candidates with a strong track record in epigenomics, gene regulation and/or the use of human stem cells models are particularly welcome.

The post is full-time (35 hours per week) and funding is available from 1^st January 2027 for 2.5 years pending review after 6 months.

Further details of work from the Sproul research group is available at: institute-genetics-cancer.ed.ac.uk/research/research-groups-a-z/sproul-group

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