ODT - THESIS TOPIC: Melinda Pirity: Generation of patient specific ...

Generation of patient specific human induced pluripotent stem cells by reprogramming for the purpose of investigating cardiac ion channel diseases

THESIS TOPIC PROPOSAL

Institute: University of Szeged
biology
Doctoral School of Biology

Thesis supervisor: Melinda Pirity
Location of studies (in Hungarian): Embryonic and Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Group, Institute of Genetics, Biological Researche Centre
Abbreviation of location of studies: SZBK

Description of the research topic:

Reprogramming somatic cells to pluripotent state (induced pluripotent stem (IPS) cell technology) brought a breakthrough in personalized medicine and in drug production and toxicology applications. However, the improvement and adaptation of the method to special cases or to different starting cell types still presents challenges. Increasing the efficiency of reprogramming is also currently an intensively researched field. We are looking for a motivated PhD student whose task will be to reprogram somatic cells from patients with heart ion channel disease and from their healthy relatives. We have already successfully adapted a procedure based on gene delivery in our laboratory, creating the prerequisites for subsequent studies in order to differentiate and analyze function of the heart muscle. The specific tasks of the candidate are the following (1) production of patient-specific pluripotent stem cells (2) and to differentiate them to cardiac muscle (3) characterization of cardiac muscle cells formed as a result of differentiation with molecular (e.g. RNA) and cell biology (e.g. immunocytochemistry) methods (3) revealing indicative of pathological processes exploring differences in patient-specific samples
Methods: culture of human stem cells, in vitro differentiation, protein and RNA level molecular and cell biological studies.

Required language skills: English
Number of students who can be accepted: 1

Deadline for application: 2024-12-31