Postdoctoral position in Computational Biology

Location: Via Milano

IFOM is an internationally recognized non-profit cancer research institute supported by the Italian Association for Cancer Research (AIRC) based in Milan within a highly dynamic urban environment.
IFOM’s continuous success is ensured by the recruitment of highly-competitive undergraduate, graduate and post-graduate researchers worldwide, with over 24 countries currently represented in IFOM.
IFOM labs are hosted within a research campus shared with the European Institute of Oncology and the Italian Institute of Technology.
IFOM is committed to creating a safe and inclusive work environment, based on mutual respect and on the enhancement of diversity, offering equal job opportunities to all qualified candidates.

About the position
Francesco Ferrari’s Laboratory at IFOM ETS, the AIRC Institute of Molecular Oncology in Milan, invites applications for postdoctoral researchers with expertise in computational biology to join our computational genomics group.
This postdoctoral position offers the opportunity to join an exciting and cutting-edge research program aimed at uncovering how   pro-metastatic signals   reshape chromatin architecture in   colorectal cancer   . The project is built around the hypothesis that   phenotypic plasticity   , such as epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition, and biophysical cues from the   tumor microenvironment   , including extracellular matrix remodeling and mechanical stress, converge on heterochromatin perturbation as a shared downstream mechanism.

By studying how   heterochromatin compartmentalization   and nuclear lamina association influence epigenetic homeostasis, we aim to reveal the molecular programs that enable cancer cells to acquire metastatic potential. The work combines innovative experimental systems, including engineered cell models, mechanobiology platforms, patient-derived organoids, and retrospective tissue cohorts, with multi-omics profiling (  transcriptomics   ,   epigenomics   , chromatin  3D architecture   ,   proteomics   , and   single-cell   data) and advanced computational analysis.

The successful candidate will have the opportunity to lead the integration of these complex datasets, applying state-of-the-art   machine learning   ,   statistical modeling   , and   multi-omics   approaches to identify enhancer-gene regulatory network rewiring and molecular signatures predictive of early metastatic progression. This project provides a dynamic, interdisciplinary, and highly collaborative environment for candidates eager to apply computational genomics skills to biologically and clinically impactful questions.

Department overview
Francesco Ferrari - computational genomics laboratory

Our research group is especially expert on   chromatin 3D architecture   , its connection to   epigenetic   and   transcriptional      regulation   , and how this regulatory axis ultimately affects   cell identity      homeostasis   in physiological and pathological conditions, with a special focus on   cancer   . Chromatin architecture is studied at different levels of resolution:
-   On a large scale   ,   we are interested in mechanisms for the coordinated control of large chromatin domains in physiological and disease conditions. These involve the compartmentalization of the genome in structural domains, e.g. Topologically Associating Domains (TADs) or Lamina Associated Domains (LADs), as well as the spatial segregation of heterochromatin and euchromatin. We investigate their functional and structural reorganization dynamics in cancer.
- On a finer scale,    we study how chromatin 3D folding controls the physical association of distal regulatory elements (enhancers) and their target genes. We use this complex network or physical (in the 3D space) and regulatory (epigenetics and transcriptional) connections to dissect the combinatorial effect of epigenetic or genetic alterations in cancer.

Selected recent publications
Valentina Rosti§,‡, Giovanni Lembo‡, Cristiano Petrini‡, Francesca Gorini, Roberto Quadri, Chiara Cordiglieri, Margherita Mutarelli, Elisa Salviato, Elisabetta Casari, Emanuele di Patrizio Soldateschi, Emanuele Montanari, Giancarlo Albo, Francesco Ripa,…