PhD Student in Translational Cancer Research, SNSF project

UniBE is interconnected.
With us, you're part of an international community and benefit from interdisciplinary collaboration.

Tasks

• Establish, characterise and maintain patient-derived cancer cell lines and 3D organoids, including models derived prospectively from fresh tumour biopsies
• Perform in vitro efficacy studies and mechanistic validation experiments, using drug response, clonogenic growth and live-cell imaging assays
• Design and carry out genome-wide CRISPR/Cas9 synthetic lethality screens and validate the resulting druggable hits
• Analyse screening and sequencing data using established bioinformatics pipelines (MAGeCK RRA/MLE, R)
• Perform confocal and multiplexed immunofluorescence microscopy
• Contribute to in vivo xenograft experiments and to the histological and computational pathology characterisation of explanted tumours
• Present results at national and international conferences and prepare first-author manuscripts for peer-reviewed journals
• Participate in the doctoral programme of the Graduate School for Cellular and Biomedical Sciences

Your Profile

• Master's degree (MSc) in Molecular Life Sciences (Cell and Molecular Biology or Biochemistry/Chemical Biology), Biomedical Sciences, molecular biology, biochemistry, biotechnology or a related field, completed by the starting date, ideally with at least one full year lab experience.
• Solid practical experience in mammalian cell culture (experience with 3D organoids is an advantage)
• Experience in standard molecular biology and imaging techniques (western blotting, immunofluorescence, qPCR, optical microscopy). Experience with confocal microscopy is an advantage
• Basic skills in data analysis and statistics; familiarity with GraphPad or R is an advantage
• Strong motivation for translational cancer research and genuine interest in bridging laboratory work and clinical questions
• Ability to work collaboratively within an interdisciplinary and multicentric team
• Excellent command of English, written and spoken

Application and Contact
Please submit your application with the usual documents via the online “Apply” button / as a PDF by email by 15.11.2026 to dilara.akhoundovasanoyan@unibe.ch