Postdoctoral Position for Computational Biologist

Postdoctoral Position for Computational Biologist

IEO - European Institute of Oncology

Milan, Italy

Position for one computational Postdoc is immediately available in the laboratory of Dr. Luigi Nezi at European Institute of Oncology in Milan. Our Lab aims to develop innovative approaches in cancer prevention and therapy by manipulating the microbiome. We have reported causality between composition (Science 2018, Science 2021), stability and antigenicity (Cell Host and Microbes 2024) of the gut microbiome and immunotherapy efficacy in patients with melanoma, modeling clinically relevant microbiome-host interactions on pre-clinical animal or on-chip models (Nature biomedical Engineering 2025) while developing innovative tools to extrapolate microbial signals from sequencing dataset (Genome medicine 2023). In the proposed project we will integrate metagenomic, metabolomic and functional data to decode the interplay between the microbiome and the host’s immunesystem, during immunotherapy, in different tumor types. The candidate will have the possibility to actively interact with worldwide-recognized experts in microbiome and immunological analisys, to learn and develop new pipelines.

As part of your project you will:

• develop computational approaches to analyze and integrate metagenomic, transcriptomic and metabolomics data from humans;
• build a model to identify biotic and abiotic bacterial components to elicit a systemic antitumor response;
• develop 3D models of TCR-antigen interactions;
• interact with a team that will validate findings in vitro and in vivo pre-clinical models.

Overall, the results of this study will better inform the design of new strategies for cancer prevention and treatment.

Skills covered in this project:

• Metagenomic whole (shotgun) genome sequencing;
• Genomic and transcriptomic analysis (bulk and single cell);
• Metabolomic analysis;
• TCR sequenicing;
• Multiparametric Analysis of immunological data;
• Imaging analysis.

The candidate should hold a PhD degree in Bioinformatics or a similar discipline with a computational or mathematical focus (computer science, physics, mathematics). They should have experience in developing efficient algorithms, ideally in the disciplines of optimization, network science or machine learning. Good programming skills are required both in a higher programming language and in R. The researcher should have experience in working with cancer omics data. Expertise in analyzing metagenomic and metabolomic datasets and building AI-driven workflows is a plus. Scientific understanding of general research questions in molecular and cancer biology is required. Competitive salary based on professional experience.