Postdoctoral Scholar

Department: MED-Urology
Salary/Grade: RES/

Job Summary:

Dr.Yang Yi at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, in the Department of Urology is seeking a creative, motivated post-doctoral candidate. Dr.Yi's lab mainly focuses on identifying the novel roles of epigenetic regulation (e.g., m6A RNA methylation, RNA 2-O-Methylation and histone H3 lysine 27 tri-methylation) in cancer. More importantly, Yi lab dedicates to decode the crosstalk between epigenetics and epitranscriptomics and unveil how different modification types are orchestrated to facilitate prostate cancer development. For instance, we reported a novel function of m6A modification in modulating nonsense-mediated mRNA decay and uncovered a mechanism by which the m6A writer METTL3 promotes tumor progression (Cancer Research, 2019). In another work, we revealed that EZH2, previously known as a transcription repressor and lysine methyltransferase, could directly interact with rRNA 2-O-methyltransferase fibrillarin (FBL) to exert its role in prostate cancer-related translational control (Nature Cell Biology, 2021). In 2022, we reported that EZH2-mediated cell cycle regulation in prostate cancer relies on both its methyltransferase and non-methyltransferase activities (Oncogene, 2022). In 2023, we provided two new models by which both cell identity genes and tumor suppressor genes undergo both frequent transcription and fast RNA decay to achieve precise regulation of RNA expression via m6A methylation (Nucleic Acids Research, 2023a, Nucleic Acids Research, 2023b). In 2024, we further developed a new machine learning method and demonstrated that FBL-mediated 2-O-methylation modifications at mRNA internal sites could regulate gene expression by enhancing mRNA stability and thus facilitate prostate cancer progression (Molecular Cell, 2024). This position will dissect the functions of epigenetic modifiers in cancer using state-of-the-art technologies such as Nanopore direct RNA-seq, CLIP-seq, Ribo-seq and SLAM-seq.

Please note: This is a full-time position with a salary based on the NIH scale and exceptional benefits. Interested candidates should send their curriculum vitae, a description of their scientific interests to Dr. Yang Yi at: yang.yi@northwestern.edu. This position is available for immediate hire.

Specific Responsibilities:

• To conduct experiments including molecular biology, cell culture, imaging, and mouse xenograft.
• To develop new techs to obtain grants and publications.
• To help write grants and compete for funding.
• To help write and contribute to publications resulting from research done in the lab.

Miscellaneous

Performs other duties as assigned.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Ph.D. degree in molecular biology, cell biology, cancer biology or a related field.

• Evidence of first-author peer-reviewed publications in high-impact journals.

• Ability to work independently and in an interdisciplinary team, managing multiple tasks.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience in cancer research and evidence of project development.

• Experience working with laboratory animals is preferred.

• Excellent communication and writing skills in English.

Benefits:
At Northwestern, we are proud to provide meaningful, competitive, high-quality health care plans, retirement benefits, tuition discounts and more! Visit us at https://www.northwestern.edu/hr/benefits/index.html to learn more.

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Professional Growth & Development:
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