PhD fellow in Molecular biology, Biotechnology and Genomics 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. 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. where English is not the applicant’s first language, a valid IELTS (International English Language Testing System) certificate. 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: 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 can be delivered as plasmids, viral vectors such as AAV, or synthetic RNA. A systematic analysis would reveal how widespread translational enhancement by antisense lncRNAs really is.

Mine CAGE (FANTOM5/6), total RNA-seq and nanopore long-read datasets from human, mouse and non-model mammals to annotate lncRNAs with an embedded inverted SINE (SINEB2, MIR, Alu, FLAM). Aim 2 – PARIS analysis. Identify lncRNA/mRNA pairs in PARIS data from a diverse array of dataset.

Test 50–100 top SINEUP candidates in HEK293 and neuronal cells, measuring protein over mRNA ratio of the targets by western blot, qRT-PCR and polysome profiling. A validated atlas of natural SINEUPs and their targets, plus rules linking sequence architecture to activity,



would provide both a new layer of post-transcriptional gene regulation and design principles for synthetic SINEUP therapeutics. References D'Agostino S, Tettey-Matey A, Volpe M, Pierattini B, D'Agostino M, Smělá D, Ansaloni F, Broglia L, Lau P, Peruzzo O, Braccia C, Armirotti A, Scarpato M, Damiani D, Ros G, Di Carlo V, Maniscalco F, Bechara E, Tartaglia GG, Carninci P, Santoro C, Persichetti F, Pandolfini L, Simonetti A, Espinoza S, Zucchelli S, Sanges R, Bon C, Gustincich S. (Internal ribosome entry sites enhance translation in trans in antisense non-coding SINEUP and circular RNAs.

Carrieri C*, Cimatti L*, Biagioli M, Beugnet A, Zucchelli S, Fedele S, Pesce E, Ferrer I, Collavin L, Santoro C, Forrest AR, Carninci P, Biffo S, Stupka E, Gustincich S. (Long non-coding antisense RNA controls Uchl1 translation through an embedded SINEB2 repeat.

Main Supervisor: Stefano Gustincich (Non-coding Genomics) Additional Supervisor: Remo Sanges ( Non-coding Genomics) Molecular biology Biochemistry Cell biology Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, with its headquarters in Genoa, Italy, is a non-profit institution with the primary goal of creating and disseminating scientific knowledge and strengthening Italy's technological competitiveness. IIT's research endeavour focuses on high-tech and innovation, representing the forefront of technology with possible application from medicine to industry, computer science, robotics, life sciences and nanobiotechnologies.

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