Postdoctoral Positions in Metabolism & Cancer, VIB Vesalius Research Center, Belgium (2016)

The Laboratory of Angiogenesis and Neurovascular link, headed by Prof. Peter Carmeliet, is looking for highly motivated, creative and independent postdoctoral scientists to join their team of international researchers.

The focus of the lab is to characterize the regulation of cell metabolism and to determine the role of metabolism during the process of angiogenesis. Angiogenesis, the growth of new blood vessels, plays a crucial role in numerous diseases, including cancer. Inhibiting the formation of vessels within the tumor (anti-angiogenic therapy) has emerged as a promising anti-cancer strategy. Clinically approved anti-angiogenic drugs offered prolonged survival to numerous cancer patients. Unfortunately, monotherapy with the current available anti-angiogenic agents often results in the development of treatment resistance. Thus, novel strategies are needed to block tumor angiogenesis via alternative mechanisms. The tight interaction between blood vessels that provide metabolic substrates, and the tumor cells that utilize them, leads to the obvious link between metabolism and angiogenesis, surprisingly this has not been studied so far. Recent studies from the lab revealed that targeting endothelial metabolism could be a possible alternative therapeutic strategy for anti-angiogenic therapy. In this perspective, we are aiming to investigate several metabolic pathways in different models of angiogenesis.

Successful candidates will be involved in this research project, under the direct supervision of Prof. Carmeliet. Working in the team of Prof. Carmeliet will offer the candidate the opportunity to acquire experience in molecular and cellular biology, transgenesis, in vivo animal models and state-of-the-art research tools including: Metabolic Flux Analysis (MFA) and metabolomics (incl. GC- and LC-mass spectrometry).

Profile
- Candidates should have a PhD in cancer/metabolism or a related field, and should be skilled in molecular and cellular biology methods.
- Interest and experience in the use of in vivo cancer models and mass spectrometry for metabolite determination and identification would be an advantage.
- Applicants should have a strong publication record (including at least one paper as a first author) in peer-reviewed international journals, with an emphasis on quality rather than quantity of publications.
- Candidates should have excellent communication skills in spoken and written English (proven knowledge of English is required, TOEFL test).
- He/she is capable of working in a team as well as independently, can organize a multidisciplinary project and has a problem-solving attitude.

Further details:
http://www.vrc-lab.be