Post-Doctoral Fellow in Single-Cell Proteomics of Neuronal Development

Post-Doctoral Fellow in Single-Cell Proteomics of Neuronal Development

LIH - Luxembourg Institute of Health

Luxembourg

Background

Motor neuron diseases and neurodegenerative conditions such as Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease are associated with progressive neuronal dysfunction and death, yet the molecular mechanisms underlying neurodegeneration remain poorly understood at the protein level. Patient-derived induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) provide a unique window into disease-relevant biology, enabling the differentiation of human motor neurons that carry the genetic background of affected individuals. Single-cell proteomics is an emerging technology that enables quantitative protein profiling at the resolution of individual cells, capturing the cell-to-cell heterogeneity that bulk approaches inherently obscure. In this project, you will combine iPSC-derived motor neuron differentiation with state-of-the-art single-cell proteomics to dissect the protein-level landscape of neuronal development and identify disease-relevant molecular signatures at single-cell resolution.

Objectives

As a post-doctoral researcher, you will establish and optimise protocols for differentiating motor neurons from patient-derived iPSC lines, develop and apply single-cell proteomics workflows to neuronal samples, and perform bioinformatic analysis of the resulting datasets. You will work to integrate proteomic data with orthogonal single-cell modalities including transcriptomics and imaging, and collaborate closely with clinical and neuroscience partners to address biologically and medically relevant questions in the context of Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease.

Key Skills, Experience and Qualifications

• PhD in cell biology, neuroscience, biochemistry, or a closely related discipline;
• Hands-on experience with iPSC culture and/or neuronal differentiation protocols;
• Mass spectrometry-based proteomics and single-cell omics workflows;
• Data analysis of large single-cell omics datasets (R and/or Python);
• Languages skills: fluent command of English; knowledge of another language of the European Union is an asset.