Doktorand/utbildningsplats

Sahlgrenska akademin utlyser doktorandplatser med placering vid institutionen för biomedicin, institutionen för medicin och institutionen för neurovetenskap och fysiologi.

Doktorandplatserna avser två års utbildningsbidrag och två års doktorandanställning, alternativt fyra års doktorandanställning, och beräknas leda fram till doktorsexamen.

För mer information och ansökningsblankett se:
http://www.sahlgrenska.gu.se/doktorandportalen/Doktor_Fran_start_till_mal/doktorandplatser

PhD Projects at Institute of Biomedicine


Roles of the orphan nuclear receptor TLX in tumor-initiating cells of the nervous system, especially neuroblastoma

Application deadline: 2010-09-21

Description of the research project
We want to identify the role and mechanisms of orphan nuclear receptor TLX in maintaining so-called tumor-initiating cells (TICs) of tumors in the nervous system.TLX is known as a self-renewal gene necessary for neuronal stem cell maintenance by repressing cell-cycle inhibitors such as p21 and PTEN.We found that TLX is enhanced in hypoxia and targets the pluripotency-associated gene Oct3/4 in adult neuroprogenitors, in which silencing of TLX induced apoptosis.TICs in neuroblastoma express enhanced levels of TLX, which is further augmented in hypoxia where they undergo dedifferentiation.We isolate TICs from cell lines and primary samples from patients with PNET and astrocytoma cultured and enriched in tumorspheres, and analyzed by FACS by antibodies against various stem cell markers and TLX.Their stem cell properties will be examined in culture and xenograf in nude mice.We also study signaling mechanisms involved in TLX-induced angiogenesis and migration.Furthermore, we will examine molecular mechanisms for how TLX controls mitosis in neuronal stem cells, which will be compared with TLX overexpressing cells (neuroblastoma TICs) as well as their counterparts with silenced TLX.Thus, TLX might serve as diagnostic marker as well as therapeutic target.