Area
Translational Medical Sciences
Location
University Park
Salary
£31,637 to £46,735 per annum, depending on skills and experience (minimum £35,116 with relevant PhD). Salary progression beyond this scale is subject to performance.
Closing Date
Thursday 21 August 2025
Reference
MED207925
Title: Unpicking the role of snoRNAs in heart disease using human pluripotent stem cells
Biodiscovery Institute, University of Nottingham
Supervisors: Chris Denning, Vicky James (University of Nottingham), Mandy Peffers (University of Liverpool) and James Smith (University of East Anglia)
Keywords: Heart failure, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, noncoding RNAs, human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs), cardiomyocytes, metabolism
About the project
We are recruiting a postdoc (established or newly graduated from their PhD) who has an exceptional ‘can-do’ attitude, with drive and enthusiasm to push scientific boundaries and overcome hurdles. They will have experience in stem cell culture, imaging, molecular biology, genetic engineering and/or bioinformatics analysis. This will enable new approaches to understand hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), a common condition that can cause heart failure or death, as has occurred in football players mid-match.
Our prior work with isogenic, genetically engineered cardiomyocytes derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSC-CMs) used functional analysis, transcriptomics and mass spectrometry proteomics to implicate small nucleolar RNAs (snoRNAs) as disease modifiers in HCM. This led to a successful award of £1m from the British Heart Foundation. Excitingly, we are finding that overexpressing key snoRNAs in hiPSC-CMs alters protein pathways for adhesion and signalling, whilst gene knockout affects cardiovascular cell proliferation and expression of contractile proteins.
This is a full time position. The project is for up to 3 years and will address the central research question of whether snoRNAs are involved in the regulation of heart function, and if they have the potential to contribute to heart failure.
Hosted by Chris Denning and Vicky James, the postdoc will be based at the world-class University of Nottingham Biodiscovery Institute – see drone footage on the home page – providing exceptional facilities (also see BDI Brochure). Extensive collaboration will occur with the University of Liverpool and University of East Anglia, where existing postdocs employed by the project provide expertise in multi-omic approaches and cardiomyocyte signalling, respectively.
Suggested reading includes our publications:
For snoRNAs: Chabronova et al., A. SnoRNAs in cardiovascular development, function, and disease. Trends Mol Med. 30:562-578, 2024. doi: 10.1016/j.molmed.2024.03.004.. PMID: 38523014
For underpinning discoveries: James et al., Transcriptomic Analysis of Cardiomyocyte Extracellular Vesicles in Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Reveals Differential snoRNA Cargo. Stem Cells Dev. 30:1215-1227, 2021. doi: 10.1089/scd.2021.0202. PMID: 34806414
For examples of techniques: Mosqueira et al., CRISPR/Cas9 editing in human pluripotent stem cell-cardiomyocytes highlights arrhythmias, hypocontractility, and energy depletion as potential therapeutic targets for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Eur Heart J. 39:3879-3892, 2018. doi: 10.1093/eurheartj/ehy249. PMID: 29741611.
If you are interested about this position, please progress and click 'apply online' button. You should attach your CV with contact details for at least 4 referees, along with a detailed cover letter stating why the position is of interest, what you understand about the post and how your skillsets / aptitude align with the needs of the project. Informal enquiries can be made by contacting the project supervisors [email protected] and [email protected].
