Positions

1. Predoctoral position to study the evolution of microproteins

Date: March 4 2024. State: open. Reference: predoc-microprotein-ERC

Mar Albà, ICREA Research Professor, Evolutionary Genomics Group, Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute (IMIM) – Barcelona Biomedical Research Park (PRBB), Barcelona.

Description

We are looking to recruit one predoctoral researcher to investigate the evolution of microproteins. Recent techniques to sequence ribosome protected RNA fragments (Ribo-Seq) have revealed a very large number of small ORFs that are translated into microproteins. Some of these microproteins are encoded by ORFs in transcripts currently annotated as non-coding, whereas others are the translation products of upstream or downstream ORFs in protein-coding genes. Many of them are poorly conserved across species, and thus they represent evolutionary novelties, emerged de novo from previously non-coding RNA segments. The project will investigate the early evolutionary steps of microproteins emerged in humans and primates using different types of sequencing data. We will use different techniques to understand how selection shapes the evolution of different types of microproteins, and what determines that some of them become essential over time.

Requirements

• Knowledge of Unix/Linux systems
• Programming/R knowledge
• Interest in genomics and molecular evolution
• Very good verbal and written communication skills in English

Recent related Publications:

Montañés, J.C., Huertas, M., Messeguer, X., Albà, M.M. (2023). Evolutionary trajectories of new duplicated and putative de novo genes. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 40(5):msad098.

Blevins, W.R., Ruiz-Orera, J., Messeguer, X., Blasco-Moreno, B., Villanueva-Cañas, J.L., Espinar, L., Díez, J., Carey, L.B., Albà, M.M. (2021). Uncovering de novo gene birth in yeast using deep transcriptomics. Nature Communications, vol. 12: 604.

Ruiz-Orera, J., Grau-Verdaguer, P., Villanueva-Cañas, J-L., Messeguer, X., Albà, M.M. (2018) Translation of neutrally evolving peptides provides a basis for de novo gene evolution. Nature Ecology and Evolution, vol. 2: 890 – 896.

Location: We are located at the Barcelona Biomedical Research Park (PRBB), one of the most vibrant interdisciplinary research centers in Southern Europe hosting 1400 scientists and research support staff. The researchers will have access to state-of-the-art computational resources and a wide range of training opportunities.

Funding: The position is funded by ERC Advanced Grant NovoGenePop. Starting data between July and September 2024. The contract will initially be for three years, with the possibility of one year extension.

Contact: Please send an email to Mar Albà (malba@imim.es) quoting “predoc-microprotein-ERC” and including a CV and a motivation letter, together with the name of two contacts for references.