Universitat Pompeu Fabra, in Barcelona, Spain, seeks outstanding scientists who have demonstrated (or have strong potential for) innovation and leadership in research, within the framework of the UPFellows programme to integrate them in their departments which cover a broad range of topics. In the Department of Experimental and Health Sciences we specially encourage collaborative interaction and synergies with existing research programmes, while providing novel expertise not currently covered, to maximise the impact of the fellowship in the career development of the candidate. Special areas of interest within this call are:

Development of new reliable methods to evaluate neuropathic pain manifestations and treatment and the influence of emotional traits responsible for inter-individual variability
The position is framed within a FP7 EC-funded Large-Collaborative project, NeuroPain, which is coordinated by the Director of the group, Rafael Maldonado. This proposal profits from the expertise of several complementary European research groups leading behavioural, electrophysiological, genetic and clinical studies in order to generate new neuropathic pain models of high predictive value for the preclinical evaluation of novel treatments and the identification of biomarkers of inter-individual variation and treatment effectiveness in human patients.

The candidate will be involved in the development of new reliable methods to evaluate neuropathic pain manifestations and treatment and the influence of emotional traits responsible for inter-individual variability. Candidates should hold a PhD degree and have a strong scientific-technical background in experimental pain models. In particular, the desired candidate must have an excellent knowledge of behavioural models of pain, including thermal nociceptive models (Hot-plate, Tail-Flick, Tail-Immersion), neuropathic pain models (sciatic nerve ligation) and mechanical perception models (Von Frey filaments). Moreover, knowledge of other behavioural paradigms (e.g. anxiety and depression models) will be an asset, as well as to master immunohistochemistry biochemical and molecular biology techniques.

The selected person will be in a small team of 3 PhD students and 2 technicians, will report directly to the Director and will have a good opportunity to further develop her/his professional career in this field. She/he should be fluent in English and have an interactive personality.

Title: Control of stem cell functions during regeneration and aging
We aim to understand the mechanisms regulating stem cell homeostasis: how stem cells maintain quiescence, are activated, transit to proliferative expansion and differentiation, and finally self-renew. Our interest is specially focused on stem cells of skeletal muscle.
The position is framed within FP7 EC-funded Large-Collaborative projects centered on two areas: 1) age-associated muscle decline and wasting (sarcopenia) and loss of stem-cell regenerative functions with aging; and 2) the physiopathology of muscular dystrophies, with a specific interest in the contribution of inflammation and fibrosis to dystrophy progression.

The ideal candidate will have a strong background in mammalian cell biology, gene targeting, cell cycle and transcriptional studies, and microscopy, with a good understanding of molecular biology. She/he should be fluent in English and have an interactive personality.

Title: Computational cancer genomics
The researcher will be integrated in the group of Nuria Lopez-Bigas (http://bg.upf.edu) and work in computational cancer genomics. Particularly he/she will be involved in the analysis of pan-cancer genomics data, including tumour genome and transcriptome sequencing data, focused particularly in the identification of driver mutations in non-coding regions.

The research team has unique expertise in the integration, analysis and visualization of cancer genomics data. Recent achievements include: i) development of computational methods to identify cancer drivers, ii) the creation of IntOGen-mutations, a platform to identify and visualize cancer drivers across tumour types, ii) participation in the most important international consortia in cancer genomics (ICGC and TCGA).

Qualifications and experience:
The ideal candidate would have a Ph.D. in bioinformatics, computer science, genomics, molecular biology or other relevant fields of biology, with research experience (with strong first-author publications) in computational genomics, cancer genomics, or a closely-related field. Experience in the study of non-coding regions will be an asset. She/he should have strong analytical, statistical, quantitative, and computational/programming skills, in addition to creativity, curiosity, enthusiasm, and ability to work independently.

Title: Translational bioinformatics
A position is available for a highly motivated postdoctoral researcher in the Integrative Biomedical Informatics group led by Ferran Sanz and Laura I. Furlong at IMIM-UPF in Barcelona.
The researcher will be involved in one of the translational bioinformatics projects of the group aimed at: a) identification and analysis of disease comorbidity patterns, b) development of new disease classification approach based on endophenotypes. Both research projects involve the combined analysis of patient clinical records with omics and chemical/pharmacological data. The successful applicant will join a team of international researchers based at the Barcelona Biomedical Research Park in Barcelona, with strong collaboration with clinical groups.
The IBI group is an interdisciplinary research team currently formed by 3 postdocs, 3 PhD students and a MD, with complementary expertise in biology, medicine, pharmacology, chemistry and informatics. The research team has a unique expertise in the fields of network medicine and text mining. Recent achievements include: i) development of the DisGeNET knowledge platform, ii) development of the ADR-Substantiation workflow to find biologically plausible explanations for drug adverse reactions, iii) text mining approaches for the identification of biomarkers, iv) participation in international projects in translational research (EMIF, eTOX, OpenPhacts).
Qualifications and experience:
The ideal candidate would have a Ph.D. in bioinformatics, computer science, data and text mining, molecular biology or other relevant fields of biomedicine, with research experience (with strong first-author publications) in translational bioinformatics. Experience in text mining or network medicine will be an asset. She/he should have strong analytical, statistical, quantitative, and computational/ programming skills, in addition to creativity, curiosity, enthusiasm, and ability to work independently.