Scholarship: Fully-funded
Degree: Bachelor, Master, Ph.D
Nationality: International Students
Location: USA
Application deadlines: Open
Scholarship Description:
The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UTHSA) is the largest health and medical center in South Texas and one of four medical schools in the University of Texas System. Dr. Zhijie Liu is affiliated with both the UTHSA Cancer Center and the Department of Molecular Medicine. The UTHSA Cancer Center is one of the National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated cancer centers in Texas, offering excellent research facilities.
Dr. Liu joined UTHSA in 2016 as an Assistant Professor (Tenure-Track), became an Associate Professor (tenured) in 2021, and will be promoted to Full Professor (tenured) this summer. Since 2016, the lab has published articles in Molecular Cell (two papers), Nature Cell Biology, and Autophagy.
The research group focuses on studying the functions of enhancers and epigenetic mechanisms in cancer development, neurological diseases, and human aging using animal models and NGS technologies.
For more information, please visit the mentor’s webpage: Dr. Zhijie Liu.
In addition to helping postdocs publish high-impact papers, our research projects will provide members from both dry and wet labs with solid expertise and experimental skills in molecular biology and multi-omics (genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, epigenomics, and metabolomics) at the single-cell level.
Available Subjects:
- Investigate the role of signal-regulated enhancers in breast cancer, prostate cancer, and neurological diseases, focusing on how enhancers are regulated under the interplay of sex hormones, inflammatory signals, Hippo signaling, and metabolic pathways.
- Explore the epigenetic modifications and chromatin 3D structural changes of enhancers during developmental/pathological stimuli or hormone/resistance acquisition.
- Study the regulatory mechanisms of protein phase separation in enhancer function.
- Investigate the regulatory mechanisms of non-coding RNA and its methylation in enhancer function.
- Identify diagnostic/prognostic biomarkers and therapeutic targets for cancer, neurological diseases, and aging, and develop drugs for preclinical research and potential clinical applications.
Eligibility criteria:
- Ph.D. in Biochemistry, Cell Biology, Cancer Biology, Bioinformatics, or a related field.
- Strong enthusiasm for learning and a solid theoretical and practical background in molecular biology.
- Experience in one or more of the following research areas with a robust training background: transgenic mouse models, patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models, breast cancer, prostate cancer, neurological diseases, or computational biology.
- We welcome applicants who focus purely on experimental work or bioinformatics, as well as those with a hybrid background in both experimental and computational research.
Application Procedure:
Interested applicants should send their application materials in PDF format to Dr. Zhijie Liu at LiuZ7@uthscsa.edu.
Application materials should include, but are not limited to:
- A resume outlining previous research experience and future research plans.
- Published articles.
- Contact information for references.
We offer competitive salary and benefits for postdoctoral positions (NIH standards), with further details to be confirmed via email.