Within the framework of the Genome4Brussels(G4BXL) consortium, Prof. Dr. G. Tom Lenaerts and Dr. Sofia Papadimitriou(info) hire a researcher to join the Interuniversity Institute of Bioinformatics in Brussels(http://www.ibsquare.be) and the ULB Machine Learning group(http://mlg.ulb.ac.be) to continue their team’s fascinating work on the oligogenic causes of rare and not-so-rare diseases. The advert is available via this link: https://www.euraxess.be/jobs/697360 

Most current bioinformatics tools focus on the monogenic causes of disease. The Prof. Tom Lenaerts and Guillaume Smits and their teams are working on the next generation of genomic interpretation tools, which will no longer focus on monogenic causes, but will open up analysis to the oli/polygenic causes of disease.

They have already achieved promising results with the development of VarCoPP and ORVAL (Variant Combinations Pathogenicity Predictor work(https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1815601116) and http://orval.ibsquare.be).

Within the framework of the Genome4Brussels consortium, Prof. Dr. G. Tom Lenaerts is adapting these polygenic tools to detect gene networks and the epi or hypostatic action of one (or more) genes from an anchor gene. In this case, the anchor gene used to implement this approach is the FBN1 gene (which causes Marfan syndrome).

Such a disruptive tool could be an innovative way of discovering new therapeutic avenues for many rare and not-so-rare diseases (starting with Marfan syndrome).

Thanks to the efforts of the 101 Genomes Foundation and its partners, Prof. G.’s team has been able to achieve its goals. Tom Lenaerts has access to the data needed to conduct this ambitious research, and thanks to Innoviris, she has access to the financial resources to do so.

Join us in this adventure and contact Prof. Lenaerts now by sending him: (i) your CV,(ii) a list of publications, (iii) a letter of motivation and (iv) three letters of reference: Postdoctoral position in machine learning and bioinformatics | EURAXESS Belgium