Master's thesis positions

Subject: Analysis of epigenetic changes in clinical samples of cholangiocarcinoma

Place of work: Department of General Surgery, Medical University of Vienna, Anna Spiegel II (AKH-Campus, 1090 Vienna)

Starting date: October 2026

Duration: 9 (work) + 3 (finishing  and writing) months – full time

Topic

Perihilar cholangiocarcinoma (pCCA), has a high mortality rate due to its aggressiveness and late diagnosis. Liver resection is the only curative treatment of choice, followed by adjuvant chemotherapy (ChT). Biomarkers that can reliably predict a patient’s outcome after curative tumor resection are lacking. Recent data from other solid malignancies highlight a crucial role for tumor epigenetics and transcriptomics (small RNAs) as predictors of treatment response and prognosticators of clinical outcome. In the present study, we aim to investigate small RNAs and epigenetics in patients with curatively resected pCCA and their correlation with clinical outcome. In addition, a new type of small RNAs, epigenetically active, will be analyzed, and experiments will be performed to characterize them further.   

Additional information: Information (Patent 1) Patent 2

Requirements:

• University/FH student with a Bachelor’s degree in the field of molecular biology/biomedical sciences/biochemistry, e.g., Bohrgasse, VetMed: “Vergleichende Biomedizin”, or “Evolutionary Genomics and Systems Biology”
• Profound wet lab skills are a prerequisite
• Experience in cell culture and molecular biological techniques
• Careful and diligent
• Willingness to work with material from patients
• High motivation; good communication, and team player skills
• Experience in bioinformatics (Linux) is a plus
• German language is also a plus

Compensation: according to Med. Univ. Vienna scheme (“Forschungsbeihilfe” € 440,- per month; 12 months)

If you are interested, please send your applications, including a letter of motivation, as soon as possible to:

Johannes Längle and Dietmar Pils (Principal Investigators)

Department of General Surgery

AKH/MUW: Anna Spiegel II

A-1090 Vienna, Austria

Emails: johannes.laengle(at)muv.ac.at / dietmar.pils(at)muv.ac.at

Web: Link