On 10 February, we celebrated World Pulses Day. The initiative was born in 2016 by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The day aims to popularise these valuable plants. We asked Professor Ryszard Amarowicz, head of the Department of Chemical and Physical Properties of Food, about all the good things that can be found in pulses. (więcej…)
EN
The Genome above the Genome – Prof. Carsten Carlberg, ERA Chair WELCOME2
Our daily diet contains carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, minerals, and vitamins – nutrients that provide us with energy and serve as the building blocks of our bodies. However, we are increasingly learning that what we eat also interacts with the genes in our cells in important ways.
Diet is the most dominant of the environmental factors affecting us from conception to death. Every day, more than 1 kg of food passes through our bodies, the largest amount of all substances we come into close contact with. Dietary signals are in direct contact with the genome: every day, our breakfast, lunch, and dinner “talk” to our genes. For more than 20 years, we have known the sequence of all 20,000 human genes that carry the information needed to build proteins. We also know that in addition to them, there are at least as many non-coding RNAs within our genome, which do not produce any proteins. This understanding has brought us into the postgenomic era, where research has been initiated in numerous new fields. These include nutrigenomics, which can be defined as the study of how the food we eat (“nutri”) interacts with all of our genes (“genomics”).
The same yet different
Nearly 99% of the genome differs very little among all 8 billion humans on Earth. However, we do differ from one another in terms of such obvious traits as height, weight, hair, and skin and eye color, as well as such characteristics as the likelihood of developing a specific disease. Some of these traits, such as eye color, are obviously determined by genes. However, the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, for example, is only up to 10% determined by the genes we inherit from our parents and up to 90% determined by environmental factors and our lifestyle.
Our body is made up of 3×1013 cells, which come in at least 400 different variants. They form the tissues of the brain, the immune system, the liver, and all other organs in the body. In every human, each cell contains the same genome, which means the same information necessary to build proteins. In different types of cells, however, the genome is organized by proteins into tightly packed chromatin (called heterochromatin) and lightly packed chromatin (euchromatin) in such a way that access is only possible to those genes that carry information about the proteins needed in specific tissues. This packing of the genome, which does not affect its DNA sequence (it does not cause any mutations), is referred to as the “epigenome” (“epi-” meaning “above”).
Some aspects of the epigenome become fixed already in the first weeks of gestation, referred to as early embryogenesis. In this very sensitive period of life, important decisions are made about the development of organs, which should remain unchanged for the rest of the organism’s life. It is this stable part of the epigenome that ensures that our brain cells remain brain cells throughout our lives, instead of “changing their minds” and suddenly transforming, for example, into kidney cells that produce urine. The integrity of the human body is based on the stability of this aspect of the epigenome.
But the epigenome has also certain dynamic aspects: signals from the inside and outside of cells affect the ability of specialized proteins in the nucleus to recognize certain regions of the genome. Certain signals, for example those from food components, can alter how the genome is packaged into euchromatin and heterochromatin. Genes located in euchromatin can be recognized by transcription factors and RNA polymerases. This means that a specific cell uses only those of the 20,000 genes that it can access through the chromatin structure. This means an average of 10,000 genes that get copied out into RNA (in a process called transcription), which is used by a particular cell as a “template” to synthesize proteins. Changes in the epigenome can affect the transcriptome, or the total number of RNA molecules in our cells. Many of the signals that affect the epigenome and the transcriptome come from diet. Therefore, a central aspect of nutrigenomic research involves describing and understanding how nutrients affect the epigenome and the transcriptome of cells, and by the same token their functions. This aspect of nutrigenomics is often referred to as nutritional epigenomics.
Every day, the dietary choices we make impact on the epigenome and the transcriptome in our tissues and cell types. A disease like type 2 diabetes takes years or even decades to develop, but it results above all from daily diet and lifestyle choices. In a similar way, other elements of what is called the metabolic syndrome, such as high blood pressure, abdominal obesity (measured by waist circumference), high levels of fat (triglycerides), and low levels of HDL (high-density lipoprotein, also referred to as the “good” cholesterol) in the blood, depend on the decisions we make – what we eat and how much we exercise.
Benefits of vitamin D3
The compounds that can “talk” to the epigenome include vitamin D3. In fact, this is a nutrient we are able to produce within our bodies, through skin exposure to UVB radiation from the Sun. However, predominantly indoor lifestyles, skin coverage with textiles, the use of sunscreens, as well as the insufficient intensity of sunlight in the winter months mean that many people acquire vitamin D3 deficiency. Vitamin D status is measured by the blood serum concentration of the most abundant vitamin D3 metabolite, namely 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 (abbreviated 25(OH)D3). According to the US-based Endocrine Society, vitamin D status should be at least 75 nM (ideally 100 nM), whereas concentrations of 25(OH)D3 below 50 nM are regarded as deficiency, and below 30 nM as severe deficiency. More than 1 billion people worldwide have vitamin D deficiency. To put this into perspective, the average vitamin D status in the population in Poland is estimated at 46 nM, which means that many people in the country suffer from a deficiency of this compound and require supplementation, especially in the winter months.
However, one might ask whether the threshold level for the vitamin D status is the best benchmark for calculating the demand for vitamin D in individual people. Every human is different, and the impact of vitamin D on the response of the epigenome and the transcriptome in our cells will vary. Based on our concept of the vitamin D response index, people can be divided into high, mid, and low responders to vitamin D. It is estimated that one in four people fall into the group of low responders. This therefore means that we have our own individual requirements for vitamin D3 supplementation, especially during the winter months. High responders have lower needs and are likely to manage with the generally recommended, yet low concentrations: up to 20 μg, or 800 international units (IU) per day. Low responders, on the other hand, may need up to 4,000 IU (100 μg) per day.
Vitamin D is well known for its role in controlling calcium levels in blood. It is essential for bone remodelling; a process takes place throughout our lives. Children with vitamin D deficiency can develop rickets, and adults can be affected by osteomalacia, a deformation of the bones that carries a higher risk of fractures. In addition, vitamin D is extremely important for the proper functioning of the immune system, which comprises innate and adaptive immunity. The innate immune system is the first line of defence against microbial pathogens such as bacteria and viruses. In addition, cells of the innate immune system, such as monocytes, macrophages, and neutrophils, are key mediators of inflammation. Inflammation can be divided into acute and chronic. Acute inflammation lasts up to two weeks and supports the body in the fight against pathogens. In chronic inflammation, the cause of this harmful state is not removed successfully, and adverse reactions continue for months, years, or even decades. Most of the serious diseases, such as type 2 diabetes, atherosclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease and cancer, are associated with chronic inflammation. In the short term, vitamin D supports acute inflammation, but in the long term, it counteracts chronic inflammation. This chiefly happens through the “programming” of the epigenome and the transcriptome of monocytes and macrophages. These epigenetic programming events create cellular memory, which means that cells remember what they were exposed to. In a similar way, all the cells in our bodies (not just the neurons in the brain) can remember lifestyle-related events, such as daily responses to food components, physical activity, and exposure to pathogens.
A step towards personalized medicine
Our projects are based upon the central assumption that vitamin D trains immune cells and other tissue cells so that they can better respond to various environmental factors. In the context of the Horizon 2020-funded ERA Chair WELCOME2 project, we will be conducting an intervention study. Sixty volunteers with early signs and symptoms of metabolicsyndrome will be asked to make significant lifestyle changes for a period of three months. We will ask them to increase their average daily physical activity, for example by increasing the number of steps per day to at least 10,000. We will simultaneously give all participants vitamin D until they reach a very good status of 100 nM. In addition, we plan to follow up 10 highly committed participants for a period of three years and take their blood samples every three months. We will use their immune cells (obtained from the blood samples) to characterize their epigenome and transcriptome and observe how they change together with lifestyle changes. In this way, we will collect huge amounts of molecular data from each participant. We will analyse such data using bioinformatics methods, including machine learning.
A key point of our project will involve the development of computer models called digital twins. The concept of a “digital twin” is well-known in engineering, for example in aircraft construction. It stands to reason that all aircraft components, such as engines and wings, must undergo extensive tests, both individually and in combination with other components, to ensure that the aircraft will pose no risk to the pilot and passengers. Such tests are currently carried out using digital computer models, which can simulate a much broader range of conditions than traditional wind tunnels. Digital twins of real people are a lot more complex than aircraft engines. Therefore, it is necessary to be realistic and strive to model only certain tissues and cell types. Consequently, we will create digital twins of monocytes and lymphocytes isolated from blood samples taken from specific participants. Unlike other tissues in the human body, such immune cells have one advantage: they are mobile. Monocytes and lymphocytes circulate through the body, communicating with all organs. As a consequence, immune cells respond to all changes in the body and, supported by vitamin D, train their epigenome accordingly.
Importantly, digital twins not only facilitate computational descriptions of cell functions, but also offer the ability to test such factors as stress, infections, and exposure to food components. As with aircraft engines, we can also try out various interventions in silico, which means testing multiple factors in a computer model without the need to involve study participants. This means reducing their effort and exposure to danger, and saving funds. Since each individual is different, our digital twins will be idiosyncratic in nature, too. Consequently, we expect to obtain personalized recommendations for lifestyle changes for each study participant to reduce the risk of the development or progression of the metabolic syndrome. Since some of the conclusions from the modelling of these digital twins will be general in nature, we will attempt to apply the results we will obtain in the study to the general population.
This article was originally published in ACADEMIA – The magazine of the Polish Academy of Sciences | 2022 | No 3 (75) Turning Points
Call for a position of a Post-doctoral Researcher in an NCN project OPUS 23
Institution name:
Institute of Animal Reproduction and Food Research, Polish Academy of Sciences (IAR&FR PAS)
Name of the position:
Assistant professor – post-doctoral researcher in National Science Centre project OPUS 23 entitled „Soluble scavenger receptor cysteine-rich domain-containing protein – SSc5D, a new player of innate immunity in turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) semen involved in yellow semen syndrome”
Description of the position:
The candidate will participate in the following research tasks:
- isolation and culture of spermiophages from turkey semen,
- immunofluorescence detection of the SSc5D in turkey semen spermiophages,
- investigation of changes in spermiophage population (M1, M2 and SSc5D+) in relation to turkey semen quality,
- analysis of the proteomic signature of activated spermiophages from turkey semen in relation to semen quality.
Conditions of work:
- the elected candidate will receive a monthly brutto salary 8 500 – 9 600 zł per month (net salary around 5 800 – 6 900 zł),
- location of the workplace: Department of Gamete and Embryo Biology, IAR&FR PAS, Bydgoska Str. 7, 10-243 Olsztyn,
- date of beginning of the employment: May-June 2023,
- length of work contract: 42-48 months.
Requirements:
- PhD in biotechnology, biology, veterinary or related discipline; PhD degree obtained in the year of employment in the project or within 7 years before 1 January of the year of employment in the project;
- Knowledge in the field of molecular biology, reproduction and immunology;
- Experience with the following techniques: ELISA, Western blot, qPCR, and immunofluorescence staining of proteins in the cell;
- Experience with primary cell isolation and culture;
- At least one international internship (minimum 1 months in length);
- First authorship of at least 3 scientific papers;
- Ability to communicate easily in English;
- Ability to work in a group.
Interested candidates are asked to provide the following documents:
- Motivation letter;
- CV including a list of publications, conference presentations, and other awards;
- Copy of PhD diploma;
- Recommendation letter from a previous supervisor or scientific supervisor confirming skills necessary for completing the project;
- Other documents, that in the opinion of the candidate are important when considering him/her for the position.
Applications should be sent to:
Dr. hab. Mariola Słowińska
e-mail: m.slowinska@pan.olsztyn.pl
Deadline: April 28, 2023 (until midnight)
The subject of the message should be „Call for Post-doc Researcher/OPUS”.
In your CV, please include a consent clause for the processing of personal data in the recruitment process:
„I consent to the processing of my personal data contained in the application documents by the Institute of Animal Reproduction and Food Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Olsztyn, 10-748 Olsztyn, ul. Tuwima 10, in order to carry out the recruitment process and publishing the full results of the competition on the Institute’s website”.
Information clause:
- The administrator of personal data processed as part of the recruitment process is the Institute of Animal Reproduction and Food Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Olsztyn, 10-748 Olsztyn, ul. Tuwima 10, phone no. 89 523 46 86, e-mail: instytut@pan.olsztyn.pl.
- Contact with the personal data protection officer is possible at the above-mentioned address.
- The provided personal data will be processed in order to carry out the current recruitment process and kept until its completion on the basis of expressed consent (in accordance with Article 6 (1) (a) of the GDPR).
- You have the right to withdraw consent at any time without affecting the lawfulness of the processing which was carried out on the basis of consent before its withdrawal.
- You have the right to access your personal data, request their rectification or removal. Submitting a request to delete data is tantamount to resignation from participation in the recruitment process. In addition, you have the right to request the restriction of processing in the cases specified in art. 18 GDPR.
- You have the right to lodge a complaint with the President of the Personal Data Protection Office against the unlawful processing of his personal data. This authority will be competent to consider the complaint, provided that the right to file a complaint concerns only the lawfulness of the processing of personal data, and not the recruitment process.
- Your data will not be profiled or made available to entities or third countries. The recipients of the data may be institutions authorized by law.
- Providing your personal data is not obligatory, but it is a necessary condition to participate in the recruitment process.
Call for a position of a Post-doctoral in an NCN project SONATA BIS 9
Employer:
Institute of Animal Reproduction and Food Research, Olsztyn, Poland
Job Title:
Post-doctoral in an NCN project SONATA BIS 9 entitled „Maternal obesity and epigenetic and metabolic regulations during gametogenesis and early embryo development in mice: the specific role of leptin signalling”.
Job Description:
The Lab of Dr Antonio Galvao is recruiting an experienced computational biologist to integrate the research programme on ovarian function in mouse models for maternal obesity. The escalating epidemic of overweight and obesity is a major burden for our health systems. Obesity leads to long-term health problems, such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease or infertility. In the lab we use mouse models and/or in vitro systems of ovarian/follicular culture to study the impact of maternal obesity in ovarian function and oocyte biology. The project investigates particularly the impact of altered leptin signalling in the ovary, a major feature of obese mothers, on the establishment of oocyte epigenome and metabolic regulations in both gamete and surrounding granulosa cells throughout folliculogenesis. The present research programme benefits from the close collaboration with the Laboratory of Dr Gavin Kelsey, Babraham Institute, Cambridge, UK, a world leader in single cell transcriptome and methylome analysis. The appointed scientist will be responsible for undertaking the analysis of methylome, transcriptome and lipidome datasets generated within the programme.
This work will lead to important advances in our understanding of the impact of altered leptin signalling in oocyte epigenome establishment, profiling also metabolic and gene expression changes in granulosa cells and other underlying mechanisms.
Key areas of responsibility:
- quality control of NGS datasets,
- providing high-level support in bioinformatic analysis of genome-wide epigenomic datasets,
- integration and analysis of RNA-seq, BS-seq and other relevant datasets,
- application of bioinformatics methods to single-cell datasets,
- preparation of manuscripts, including sequence dataset submission to public repositories.
Person specification: Essential
- Ph.D. in Bioinformatics or Computational biology, or Ph.D. in a Molecular biology or related discipline with a strong Bioinformatics component,
- working knowledge of epigenomic and transcriptomic analyses,
- programming in some of the main languages used in Bioinformatics (in particular R, Python, Java),
- working understanding of statistics and statistical programming environments,
- able to understand and communicate in English to a level appropriate for the position,
- ability to work independently and as part of a team,
- excellent organisational skills, with good time management,
- excellent interpersonal skills with the ability to communicate with staff at all levels,
- proactive, motivated, showing initiative to move projects forward,
- ability to make independent decisions and solve routine problems.
The post is initially available for 24 months, with the salary range of 85 000 – 98 000 PLN / year (before taxes/brutto), based on experience. Applications will be accepted until 27th of February 2023 and interviews will be held soon after. Applications should be submitted to the e-mail address: a.galvao@pan.olsztyn.pl.
Documents to present with the application:
- Cover letter highlighting the suitability of the candidate to the post (max 2 pages),
- CV (max 6 pages),
- One contact reference (one of letters must be from the last supervisor/line manager).
For informal questions about the post please contact Dr Galvao (a.galvao@pan.olsztyn.pl).
In your CV, please include a consent clause for the processing of personal data in the recruitment process:
„I consent to the processing of my personal data contained in the application documents by the Institute of Animal Reproduction and Food Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Olsztyn, 10-748 Olsztyn, ul. Tuwima 10, in order to carry out the recruitment process and publishing the full results of the competition on the Institute’s website”.
Information clause:
- The administrator of personal data processed as part of the recruitment process is the Institute of Animal Reproduction and Food Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Olsztyn, 10-748 Olsztyn, ul. Tuwima 10, phone no. 89 523 46 86, e-mail: instytut@pan.olsztyn.pl.
- Contact with the personal data protection officer is possible at the above-mentioned address.
- The provided personal data will be processed in order to carry out the current recruitment process and kept until its completion on the basis of expressed consent (in accordance with Article 6 (1) (a) of the GDPR).
- You have the right to withdraw consent at any time without affecting the lawfulness of the processing which was carried out on the basis of consent before its withdrawal.
- You have the right to access your personal data, request their rectification or removal. Submitting a request to delete data is tantamount to resignation from participation in the recruitment process. In addition, you have the right to request the restriction of processing in the cases specified in art. 18 GDPR.
- You have the right to lodge a complaint with the President of the Personal Data Protection Office against the unlawful processing of his personal data. This authority will be competent to consider the complaint, provided that the right to file a complaint concerns only the lawfulness of the processing of personal data, and not the recruitment process.
- Your data will not be profiled or made available to entities or third countries. The recipients of the data may be institutions authorized by law.
- Providing your personal data is not obligatory, but it is a necessary condition to participate in the recruitment process.
Publication by Dr. Agnieszka Wacławik’s team selected as Editor’s Choice
The publication by the team of Dr. Agnieszka Wacławik from the Department of Hormone Mechanisms, entitled „Novel role for conceptus signals in mRNA expression regulation by DNA methylation in porcine endometrium during early pregnancy” by P. Kaczyński, V. van der Weijden, E. Goryszewska-Szczurek, M. Baryly, SE Ulbrich and A. Waclawik, was selected as ’Editor’s choice’ in the prestigious journal Biology of Reproduction 2023, 108(1): 150-168.
’Edtitor’s choice’ publications are articles that have made a significant contribution to a field of science. The selection of an article as an 'Editor’s choice’ recognises the authors’ work and highlights the importance of their research in the field of reproductive biology.
Dr. Piotr Kaczyński and the authors mentioned above have described a novel mechanism of embryonic effects on processes related to methylation changes in DNA sequences that may regulate the expression of genes in the endometrium that are important for the development of pregnancy. The findings, published in the journal Biology of Reproduction (2023, 108(1): 150-168, doi: 10.1093/biolre/ioac193), were produced within the framework of the NCN OPUS project (2017/27/B/NZ9/03014) under the direction of Dr. Agnieszka Wacławik, carried out at our Institute and during the internship of Dr. Piotr Kaczyński in the team of Prof S. Ulbrich at the ETH Zurich.
Read more
Phd Student Edyta Walewska with SRF Poster Prize Winner Award
We are happy to announce that PhD student Edyta Walewska from Institute’s Department of Team of Reproductive Pathology and Translational Medicine has been awarded the SRF Poster Prize Winner at recent Fertility 2023 „Reproduction in an ageing world”, held in January 10-14, 2023 in Belfast. The awarded poster is entitled „Impaired decidualisation in obese mice is associated with the upregulation of leptin signalling modulators Socs3 and Ptpn2”.
The research presented at the conference was carried out as part of the following research projects funded by the National Science Centre (NCN):
- Sonata Bis nr 2019/34/E/NZ4/00349; Principal Investigator Dr. António Galvão
- Preludium 14 nr2019/35/N/NZ4/03496; Principal Investigator Edyta Walewska
For further information, visit the conference website.
Poster Prize Winners.
Prof. Ryszard Amarowicz and Prof. Henryk Zieliński honored with Statuettes of St. Jacob
Awards Gala for the President of Olsztyn’s Statuettes of St. Jacob was held on 27 January at the Auditorium in Olsztyn. The committee, chaired by Piotr Grzymowicz, awarded distinctions in six categories for the years 2020, 2021 and 2022. Two statuettes in the Science category went to scientists from our Institute – Prof. Ryszard Amarowicz and Prof. Henryk Zieliński.
The St. Jacob Statuettes honour outstanding people living and working in the capital of Warmia and Mazury who are particularly involved in the life of the city, create its scientific, cultural and economic achievements, and thus shape the image of Olsztyn.
Prof. Ryszard Amarowicz – Statuette of St. Jacob 2020
In 1980, while a graduate of the Faculty of Food Technology at the Warsaw University of Life Sciences, he joined the Faculty of Food Technology at the Agricultural and Technical Academy in Olsztyn. He studied food contamination with pesticides and heavy metals. He was awarded for his teaching activities by the Minister of Science and Higher Education and the Rector of ART. In 1988 he started working at the Institute of Animal Reproduction and Food Research, Polish Academy of Sciences. He currently heads the Department of Chemical and Physical Properties of Food, where he investigates the antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anticancer properties of biologically active compounds in food.
Prof. Amarowicz is the highest ranked scientist from Poland in the field of food science in a ranking published by Stanford University, Elsevier Publishing and SciTech Strategies. More than 380 publications authored by Prof. Amarowicz are recorded in world science databases, cited more than 11,000 times, which gives him a Hirsch index of 57 (according to the Scopus database).
The Professor’s high international position is confirmed by his former and current membership in several editorial boards of world-class scientific journals. He was repeatedly awarded the title of outstanding reviewer of scientific papers, and the Minister of Science and Higher Education entrusted him with the function of chairman of the team evaluating scientific journals in the area of food technology and nutrition. For his remarkable scientific achievements, he was awarded the Golden Cross of Merit by the President of the Republic of Poland and the „Best of the Best” Award by the Marshal of the Warmia and Mazury Region.
Prof. Henryk Zieliński – Statuette of St. Jacob 2022
His relationship with Olsztyn goes back to 1985. As a graduate of the Faculty of Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and Astronomy of the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, majoring in chemistry, he started working at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at the Agricultural and Technical Academy in Olsztyn. For his research activity at ART, he was awarded the Bronze Cross of Merit and three times awarded by the Rector of ART. In 1996 he started working at the Institute of Animal Reproduction and Food Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences. For many years, he headed the Department of the Chemistry and Biodynamics of Food. In 2010-2020, he was the editor-in-chief of the scientific quarterly Polish Journal of Food and Nutrition Sciences. In 2023, he took the position of the Deputy Director for Scientific Affairs at the Institute’s Division of Food Sciences.
Prof. Zieliński’s research concerns biologically active compounds in plant raw materials, mainly in cereals, and their functional properties. There are almost 190 publications by Prof. Zieliński recorded in world science databases, cited over 4600 times, which gives him a Hirsch index of 35 (according to the Scopus database). These achievements placed Prof. Zieliński on the list of the Top 2% of the best scientists in the world. He has been recognised and awarded many times for his scientific activities, i.a. by the American Chemical Society and the President of the Republic of Poland, from whom he received the Golden Cross of Merit. In 2022, the team under his direction received the Scientific Award of the Marshal of the Wamia and Mazury Region for research entitled „Buckwheat products of potential importance in the prevention of civilization diseases – a new brand of Warmia and Mazury”. In recognition of his outstanding scientific achievements, in the same year he was awarded the title „Honorary Citizen of the Town of Jabłonowo Pomorskie” by the authorities of his hometown.
These are two more St. Jacob’s Statuettes to add to the Institute’s distinctions, yet the first ones in the ‘Science’ category. So far, the Institute has been honoured with two distinctions in the category of 'Special merits for Olsztyn’, awarded to Prof. Zenon Zduńczyk (2018) and in recognition of the European Researchers’ Nights organised by the Institute between 2014 and 2017.
Scientific Awards of the Branch of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Olsztyn and Białystok
Prof. Agnieszka Wacławik honoured with the Scientific Award of the Branch of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Olsztyn and Białystok for significant achievements in the category of biological, agricultural and medical sciences in 2022. Distinction award – based on the recommendation of the Award Committee, for deepening knowledge on understanding the mechanisms regulating two opposing ways of healing skin injuries – went to Prof. Barbara Gawrońska-Kozak. (więcej…)
Results of the competition: Bioinformatician-data analyst
The Institute’s director informs that the competition for the position of bioinformatician-data analyst in the Laboratory of Molecular Biology has been settled and the following were selected:
dr Tomasz Molcan
Ph.D. Students at the Department of Hormonal Action Mechanisms
Department of Hormonal Action Mechanisms at the Institute of Animal Reproduction and Food Research Polish Academy of Science (IARFR PAS) offers a position for one Fellow interested in molecular and cell biology, motivated to develop a career in the interdisciplinary team of prof. Monika M. Kaczmarek.
Deadline for applications: February 20, 2023
Preferred job starting date: no later than March 1st, 2023.
Institution:
IARFR PAS is located in Olsztyn and is one of the top ranked Polish research institutes that performs interdisciplinary research in agricultural and biological sciences, booth basic and applied. The Institute is equipped with state-of-the-art technology, has excellent core facilities and supportive administration. IARFR provides stimulating scientific environment, especially due to its cooperative, multidisciplinary character. Collaborations and exchange of knowledge and techniques between scientists from different disciplines is common and encouraged.
City:
Olsztyn would be a good choice if you appreciate close contact with nature and quiet life. Within the administrative bounds of the city you will find more than 10 lakes with a very well-developed tourist and sport infrastructure, as well as leisure facilities. Each year the calendar is filled with a number of cultural and sports events (more @ Wikipedia).
Team interests:
Research of the prof. Monika M. Kaczmarek team is focuses on the mechanisms assuring successful reproduction in mammals. We are especially interested in understanding the molecular communication between mother and embryo/newborn leading to healthy offspring. More info at Kaczmarek’s Lab web page and Molecular Biology Laboratory – core facility page.
Project description:
Within the OPUS grant „Milky Way to reproductive success: role of leptin in the programming of reproductive functions over generations” we aim to decipher the multiple layers of signaling pathways leading to lactocrine-based programming of reproductive performance over generations using mouse model. Because parental investment is one of the environmental conditions that can directly influence the development of offspring we decided to test how malnutrition of mother during lactation affects reproductive performance of next generations. In order to reach set specific aims of the project a combination of molecular biology, cell biology and high-throughput screening of transcriptome and epigenome will be used. We provide opportunities for interdisciplinary collaborations within the team, in the institute, as well as with the national and international partners.
Requirements:
- M.Sc. degree in biology, biotechnology or related area of science;
- Eligibility for Ph.D. studies in Poland under the supervision of prof. Kaczmarek;
- High motivation, independent thinking, good analytical and interpersonal skills, collaborative attitude;
- Have very good written and oral communication in English;
- Previous experimental experience in one or more of the following areas – molecular and cell biology, animal reproduction, neurobiology and rodent studies will be advantageous.
We offer:
- Full-time scholarship for 16 months;
- min. 3500 PLN of full stipend cost per month;
- Position with 100% focus on research (no teaching obligations);
- Full technical, administrative and organizational support;
- Participation in courses, scientific training, support from peers, and academic mentoring.
Additional information:
The Ph.D. student will be selected from candidates in an open competition, according to the procedure complying the rules for granting scholarships for young scientists in research projects funded by the National Science Centre (NCN Council Resolution No. 96/2016 dated October 27, 2016 r.) and to the rules of the European Charter for Researchers and the Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers as a part of HR Excellence in Research strategy.
How to apply?
Interested candidates are kindly asked to contact prof. Monika M. Kaczmarek by e-mail (m.kaczmarek@pan.olsztyn.pl) and provide CV, a short motivation letter, a description of your key achievements, contacts to at least two potential referees (including one of your supervisors) and copy of the diploma by 20.02.2023.
The deadline for applications may be extended until suitable candidates who fulfills all requirements are found.
In your CV, please include a consent clause for the processing of personal data in the recruitment process:
„I consent to the processing of my personal data contained in the application documents by the Institute of Animal Reproduction and Food Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Olsztyn, 10-748 Olsztyn, ul. Tuwima 10, in order to carry out the recruitment process and publishing the full results of the competition on the Institute’s website.”
Information clause:
- The administrator of personal data processed as part of the recruitment process is the Institute of Animal Reproduction and Food Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Olsztyn, 10-748 Olsztyn, ul. Tuwima 10, phone no. 89 523 46 86, e-mail: instytut@pan.olsztyn.pl.
- Contact with the personal data protection officer is possible at the above-mentioned address.
- The provided personal data will be processed in order to carry out the current recruitment process and kept until its completion on the basis of expressed consent (in accordance with Article 6 (1) (a) of the GDPR).
- You have the right to withdraw consent at any time without affecting the lawfulness of the processing which was carried out on the basis of consent before its withdrawal.
- You have the right to access your personal data, request their rectification or removal. Submitting a request to delete data is tantamount to resignation from participation in the recruitment process. In addition, you have the right to request the restriction of processing in the cases specified in art. 18 GDPR.
- You have the right to lodge a complaint with the President of the Personal Data Protection Office against the unlawful processing of his personal data. This authority will be competent to consider the complaint, provided that the right to file a complaint concerns only the lawfulness of the processing of personal data, and not the recruitment process.
- Your data will not be profiled or made available to entities or third countries. The recipients of the data may be institutions authorized by law.
- Providing your personal data is not obligatory, but it is a necessary condition to participate in the recruitment process.
