Field of expertise: Molecular Oncology  
Application period: until 1 May 2020  

The Molecular Oncology Group at the Department for Obstetrics and Gynaecology of the Medical University of  Vienna is looking for a master’s student for the following project:  
Role of fibrillar p53 protein in cancer   
Prion diseases are characterized by infectious protein aggregates called prions. Over the past decades, several  human neurodegenerative pathologies, such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease or type 2 diabetes,  were related to protein aggregation. Key proteins in these diseases may act as prions, as shown by their prion- like conversion of a correctly folded protein into a misfolded version and intercellular transmission. Recently,  several studies have extended the prion concept to pathological aggregation in malignant tumours involving  misfolded p53, a tumour suppressor protein, whose functions are lost in more than 50% of cancers. Our group is  focused on understanding the role of these p53 aggregates in cancer.   

DURATION: 12 months  
STARTING DATE: as soon as possible