Doctoral Researcher, Cancer Data Science

University of Helsinki, Faculty of Medicine invites applications for the position of

Doctoral Researcher

in the Cancer Data Science group led by Associate Professor Mariike Kuijjer, at the iCAN Flagship in Digital Precision Cancer Medicine at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki.

The position is funded through a project by the Sigrid Jusélius Foundation titled "Regulatory determinants of metastatic progression in high-grade serous ovarian cancer." The ideal starting date is summer or early fall 2026, but this is flexible and can be discussed. The appointment is a full-time position and is made for a period of three years with possible extension depending on future funding.

Our research

The Kuijjer group was established in 2018 at the University of Oslo and expanded to the University of Helsinki in 2025. The group focuses on developing computational and data science approaches to increase our understanding of gene regulation and how rewiring of gene regulatory networks can influence cancer development, progression, and disease heterogeneity. The group's current projects use network science and artificial intelligence to develop tools that (i) integrate multi-modal data, (ii) model gene regulation at increased genomic and cellular resolution, (iii) refine the analysis of genome-wide regulatory networks. The group applies these tools to study various cancer types, including ovarian cancer. For more information, visit kuijjerlab.org.

About the role

The advertised project aims to identify regulatory determinants of ovarian cancer progression through regulatory network modeling and analysis. The selected candidate will apply and extend network modeling approaches developed in the Kuijjer group to model patient- and cell type-specific gene regulatory networks using bulk and single-cell ovarian cancer data. These networks will be analyzed to define patient-specific regulatory heterogeneity in primary ovarian cancer, identify regulatory rewiring that dri