PhD fellow in Molecular biology, Biotechnology and Genomics

Italy

IIT invites excellent candidates to apply to its PhD program organized in collaboration with the Open University; this international PhD program confers Doctorates in Health, Sustainable and Human Technologies.

In order to be admitted into the ARC program, the minimum requirements are
- a Masters-level degree, which broadly corresponds to a 4/5-year undergraduate MSc/MChem/Meng-style degree or to a postgraduate Masters in the British system, or to a second level University degree in Italy;
- a grade corresponding to an upper second class (2.1) or a merit in the UK system or 100/110 in the Italian system. Candidates with lower grades but redeeming features (publications, specific expertise) are requested to contact the potential supervisors before applying;
- where English is not the applicant’s first language, a valid IELTS (International English Language Testing System) certificate. The minimum acceptable score is an overall 6.5, with no less than 6.0 in any of the four categories





One PhD fellow position will be available from 1st of January 2027 in the Non-coding Genomics research Line led by Stefano Gustincich.

Title of the project: The SINEUPOME.

Background: SINEUPs are a class of natural and synthetic antisense long non-coding RNAs that selectively increase the translation of a target mRNA without altering its transcription or stability. They were discovered through the mouse antisense Uchl1 transcript (Carrieri et al., Nature 2012), whose activity depends on an embedded inverted SINEB2 repeat, the origin of the name.

SINEUPs have a modular architecture. A binding domain, antisense to the 5′ region of the target mRNA (typically overlapping the start codon), confers specificity. An effector domain, containing the inverted SINEB2 element or minimal functional fragments of it, drives translational enhancement. Swapping the binding domain lets SINEUPs be designed against virtually any gene of

📌 PhD fellow in Molecular biology, Biotechnology and Genomics (Genova)
🏢 IIT
📍 Genova