Thinking of doing your PhD in the Life Sciences? The International PhD Programme (IPP) Mainz is offering talented, young scientists the chance to work on cutting edge research projects within the open call on “Molecular Mechanisms in Genome Stability & Gene Regulation”. As an IPP PhD student, you will join a community of exceptional scientists working on diverse topics ranging from how organisms age or how our DNA is repaired, to how epigenetics regulates cellular identity or neural memory. The research groups of Petra Beli and Vassilis Roukos offer the following collaborational PhD project:
DNA double strand breaks (DSBs) are toxic DNA lesions that can arise from cell intrinsic and extrinsic sources and can lead to genome rearrangements in cancer. In eukaryotic cells, DSBs are formed, detected and repaired in the context of chromatin, made of nucleosomes where the DNA is wrapped around histone octamers. The DNA damage response (DDR) therefore needs to be integrated in the very plastic and dynamic chromatin landscape, and indeed recent studies have shown that chromatin alterations and the nuclear architecture actively contribute to the DDR and the utilization of the downstream repair pathways. However, how the differential DDR activation across the genome and in various chromatin and chromosome organization environments, is linked with the repair efficiency and fidelity at these locations, is poorly known, due to the lack of technologies to systematically tackle these questions.
PhD project: Linking DDR activation with repair fidelity at different genomic, chromatin and chromosome organization contexts
This project aims to fill this gap in knowledge by combining quantitative mass spectrometry-based proteomics, CRISPR/Cas genome targeting and targeted next generation sequencing technologies. The goal is to systematically link DDR activation with changes in protein recruitment and histone modifications to kinetics of DNA repair efficiency and fidelity across various genomic & chromatin environments and in the context of chromosome organization. More specifically, we will employ targeted proximity-based proteomics to profile DDR activation at targeted DSBs induced by CRISPR/Cas technologies and profile kinetics and fidelity of DNA repair by NGS based methodologies we have established in the lab, to systematically link DDR activation with repair outcome across the genome. This project will help us understand how cells activate DDR to repair their DNA efficiently, with high fidelity, and has important implications for understanding how mutations are formed and to improve the predictability and precision of gene editing.
If you are interested in this project, please select Beli/Roukos (BelRouk) as your group preference in the IPP application platform. Are you an ambitious scientist looking to push the boundaries of research while interacting with colleagues from multiple disciplines and cultures? Then joining the IPP is your opportunity to give your scientific career a flying start!
All you need is:
Master or equivalent
Interactive personality & good command of English
2 letters of reference
Exciting, interdisciplinary projects in a lively international environment, with English as our working language
Advanced training in scientific techniques and professional skills
Access to our state-of-the-art Core Facilities and their technical expertise
Fully funded positions with financing until the completion of your thesis
A lively community of more than 200 PhD students from 44 different countries
For more details on the projects offered and how to apply via our online form, please visit www.imb.de/phd.
The deadline for applications is 3 April 2025. Interviews will take place at IMB in Mainz on 23 & 24 June 2025.
Starting date: 1 August 2025 - 1 January 2026