PhD position – Marsupial Cerebral Organoids

Institute: Department of Biology

Subject areas/Research fields: Cerebral Organoids, Brain Development, iPSCs.

Keywords: Neuroscience, Developmental Biology, Cell Biology

Name of supervisor: Prof. Dr David Keays

Funding: LSM-CSC/ DAAD-GSSP (LSM)

Project title: Marsupial Cerebral Organoids. 

Project description:

To date our knowledge of vertebrate brain development has been driven by studies in rodent models, whereas very few have been conducted on marsupials. While access to tissue samples have limited research in this field, it is now possible to generate cerebral organoids in vitro from iPSCs. This project will focus on the creation of iPSCs from koala and kangaroos fibroblasts, followed by the generation of 3D cellular models. Using these tools we will explore why the Koala brain is lissencephalic (smooth), whereas the kangaroo brain is highly gyrified (folded) with a focus on the number and type of neuronal progenitors. The student will become skilled in cellular reprogramming, cell culture, CRISP-Cas9 genome editing, single cell sequencing, and histological methods. The successful candidate should be passionate, adventurous, resistant to failure, and intellectually curious. 

For further information, please contact: David Keays, [email protected]

Research group website: keayslab.org

Apply: Please send your application through the online portal of the Graduate School Life Science Munich (LSM)