Bewerbungen für die Anfertigung einer medizinischen Doktorarbeit sind willkommen. Eine 6-monatige Finanzierung ist möglich (SFB 938).

Ebenso sind Bewerbungen für die Anfertigung von Masterarbeiten willkommen. Bewerber sollten Interesse an T-Zell Biologie und T-Zell Toleranz haben.

Master Student in Bioinformatics

The group of Prof. Bruno Kyewski at the DKFZ studies an essential feature of the immune system, i.e. its ability to discriminate between self and non-self. If this mechanism becomes leaky, it can result in autoimmune diseases. The naïve T cells are tolerized to self-antigens within the primary lymphoid organ, the “thymus”. A type of thymic epithelial cells (mTECs) have the unique ability to express a wide array of genes that are otherwise exclusively expressed in other body cells. This “promiscuous” gene expression (pGE) displays two prominent features: the genes are highly clustered in the genome and show a preference for tissue-restricted antigens.

We currently study the evolutionary conservation of pGE and its molecular regulation.To this end we performed (i) genome-wide arrays in mouse, rat and human cells and (ii) extensive single cell gene expression analysis yielding complex co-expression patterns. Our preliminary bioinformatic analysis proceeded from the definition of TRA clusters, gene clustering and homology mapping. Future studies will address evolutionary mechanisms responsible for selecting this gene pool and defining the boundaries of these gene clusters. Conceivably, positional cues in the genome (i.e. global regulators/insulators) could have been driving forces during the co-evolution of pGE and adaptive immunity. In addition we will perform extensive image analysis relating chromosomal positioning to gene expression patterns at the single cell level.

To support the bioinformatic part of this project we are looking for a highly motivated, diligent and enthusiastic applicant with a strong background in programming (R and Perl) and an interest in immunology.

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