The tumor microenvironment (TME) is a highly heterogeneous and dynamic ecosystem that significantly influences cancer progression, metastasis, and therapeutic response. Traditional bulk proteomic analyses often obscure the intricate cellular and molecular variations within this complex environment. Single-cell proteomics (SCP) offers a novel approach to dissect this heterogeneity by providing protein-level insights into individual cells. This powerful technique is crucial for thoroughly characterizing changes in the TME's surface proteome and identifying essential components of the ubiquitin system that drive its dynamic interactions.
The post-doctoral fellow will work on the development of a robust detection pipeline for sub-single-cell proteomics.
The proteomics of cellular signaling group is highly international, with members from France, Portugal, the USA, Brazil, Estonia, Germany, Lebanon, Pakistan, and Spain. The group is part of the Department of Infection and Immunity, and its research focuses on regulation by post-translational modifications and changes in the protein-protein interactome using mass spectrometry-based techniques. The post-doctoral researcher will work on an NWO/FNR-funded project. The project is a close collaboration with the laboratory of Alfred Vertegaal (Leiden University, Netherlands) and Anna Alemany (Leiden University, Netherlands).
Kroonen JS, de Graaf IJ, Kumar S, et al. Inhibition of SUMOylation enhances DNA hypomethylating drug efficacy to reduce outgrowth of hematopoietic malignancies. Leukemia. 2023;37(4):864-876. Kumar S, Schoonderwoerd MJA, Kroonen JS, et al. Targeting pancreatic cancer by TAK-981: a SUMOylation inhibitor that activates the immune system and blocks cancer cell cycle progression in a preclinical model. Gut. 2022;71(11). Lesur A, Schmit PO, Bernardin F, et al. Highly Multiplexed Targeted Proteomics Acquisition on a TIMS-QTOF. Anal Chem. 2021;93(3).