One in ten women in the Western world get breast cancer; half die from
it. How tumours look tells oncologists little about which ones might
spread. We want to use mass spectrometry to investigate the
composition of blood serum to find markers that allow to diagnose
early the onset of this malignant disease and to distinguish different
forms to allow tailored treatment.
Our group is composed of nearly ten people combining biochemistry,
molecular biology, mass spectrometry, chemistry, and programming. We
have state-of-the-art instrumentation and have just finished the
creation of software that allows extracting peaks from complex mass
spectrometric data sets. This forms the foundation of a statistics
project to find significant changes in data sets from patients when
compared to controls. The ideal candidate would already have or
strongly desire knowledge in statistical methods such as Bayesian
theory, Principal Component Analysis, Genetic Algorithms, Neural
networks and of statistical software like R. or Weka.
Samples and medical expertise are obtained through close collaboration
with the IEO, Italy's largest private cancer hospital, and INT,
Italy's largest public cancer hospital, both situated nearby and
having together over 25.000 patients per year.
We are a very motivated and mostly young, mixed gender group and would
like to encourage applications from women and from out-side Italy.
Knowledge of English is expected; Italian is not required. Depending
on the experience of the applicant the position can yield into a Ph.D.
degree (17.000 Euro/year) or postdoctoral appointment (20.000-27.000
Euro/year). Taxation is 20%; health insurance is included (public).
Applications should be in English and contain as PDF or RTF a
curriculum vitae, a motivation letter including experience in the
field, and the contact details of two references. Application deadline
is May 28th, 2004. The data is waiting, so we would like to fill the
position as soon as possible.
Contact:
Dr. Juri Rappsilber, email: rappsilber at ifom-firc.it,
Further information on the group www.ifom-firc.it/proteomics/,
institute www.ifom-ieo-campus.it/, and hospitals:
www.ieo.it/inglese/Welcome.html,
www.istitutotumori.mi.it/int/default.asp
