DCIBIO - Department of Cellular, Computational and Integrative Biology – Call for the selections for the awarding of no. 1 research contract (Decree no. 1050/2026) - Prof. Segata

This fixed-term research contract at the University of Trento's Department of Cellular, Computational and Integrative Biology (CIBIO), supervised by Nicola Segata, supports OASI-TN (an early-onset colorectal cancer observatory on awareness, screening and risk factors) and PROSPECT (Pathways, Risk factors, and mOlecules to Prevent Early-onset Colorectal Tumors), a Cancer Grand Challenges team award. PROSPECT seeks to decipher the causal factors that favour colorectal cancer in people under 50.

The researcher will implement and apply an ecosystem of computational metagenomic tools on existing case-control colorectal cancer studies expanded with PROSPECT samples to identify early-onset colorectal cancer microbiome biomarkers, evaluate the transmissibility of biomarkers and risk factors, assess diet-based microbiome modulation to reduce risk, and investigate genotoxic components such as colibactin. The work spans taxonomic, functional, strain-level and gene- or operon-level profiling, statistical meta-analysis and machine-learning modelling.

The 24-month contract starts by 1 January 2027 with a gross annual salary of 38,500 euros, funded by Fondazione CARITRO and Cancer Research UK.

Four- or five-year degree in computer science, bioinformatics, microbiology, biology, medicine, electrical engineering or information engineering; PhD in molecular biology, computer science, bioinformatics, microbiology, biology or applied biology; experience developing or using computational and statistical metagenomics methods on large datasets; experience in metagenomics applied to oncology; excellent English. Applications include a two-page research proposal in English and up to five publications.