Postdoc in computational biology
Date Posted Friday, 28 September 2012
Location Uppsala, Sweden
Institute Information Uppsala University
Dept. of Cell and Molecular Biology
The Elf lab
Uppsala, 75124
Website: http://www2.icm.uu.se/molbio/elflab
Job Description Overall description: Accurate mathematical and computational models are necessary to describe and understand the dynamics of cellular processes. Due to recent progress in experimental techniques for studying individual molecules in living cells, for example in the Elf lab (Hammar et al. Science 2012), it is now possible to compare predictions of the models with molecular data to improve present models and develop new ones.

Genetically identical cells in a uniform environment can have very different phenotypes due to random fluctuations in the gene expression. This randomness is due to the small, discrete number of molecules involved in gene regulation and the inherent noise in biochemical reactions. The randomness also makes stochastic models necessary in cell biology. The disadvantage of stochastic models for simulation of molecular interactions in cells is that they are computationally much more expensive than deterministic mean-field models. It is therefore important to simplify the stochastic models and use them only when it is necessary for the fidelity of the model and resort to simplified stochastic models and deterministic models whenever it is possible.

Job assignment: You will perform detailed analysis of small gene regulatory circuits. While maintaining control of the accuracy, these circuits should be made simple enough to be included in large intracellular networks. The time scale for several of the reactions involved in gene regulation is comparable to the bacterial generation time implicating that important aspects of gene regulation is kept out of equilibrium. The ambition of the project is to evaluate how important the non-equilibrium effects of gene regulation are for the overall properties of the system and to identify mathematically and physically justified approximation schemes retaining the most important properties but at a much lower complexity and computational cost. A specific challenge is to investigate how cooperative regulator schemes, where multiple transcription factors need to find the specific chromosomal binding site, should operate for optimal repression of gene expression noise.
Qualification Required: PhD degree in a relevant area for the position. A strong interest and experience in solving problems using combined mathematical and computational skills.

Desired: A strong academic track record in computational biology, scientific computing, biophysics and/or mathematics is meriting.
How to Apply Please submit your application (Cover letter, CV and contact information for tree references) electronically using the URL below (ref UFV-PA 2012/2280).

http://www2.personalavd.uu.se/jobb/appform.php?lang=en&case=UFV-PA%202012/2280
Application deadline Nov 4, 2012
Supervisor/ Principal Investigator Prof. Johan Elf
Contact Info Irmeli Barkefors
Contact Phone: +46 18 471 6688
Contact Email: irmeli.barkefors@icm.uu.se
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