Organisation/Company Fundació Hospital Universitari Vall d'Hebron- Institut de recerca Department Research Department Research Field Biological sciences >
Biology Researcher Profile First Stage Researcher (R1) Positions PhD Positions Application Deadline 24 Sep 2026 - 23:59 (Europe/Andorra) Country Spain Type of Contract Temporary Job Status Full-time Hours Per Week 37.5h/week Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme? Other EU programme Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure? No
Offer Description
The Translational Molecular Pathology Laboratory at the Vall d'Hebron Research Institute (VHIR) is seeking a highly motivated candidate to join our team and undertake a PhD thesis within the Intercellular Communication Research Line.
The successful candidate will apply to the Amics del VHIR PhD Call 2026 and, if awarded the fellowship, will investigate how cancer cells communicate with surrounding stromal cells to adapt to therapeutic stress.



The project will focus on the emerging phenomenon of intercellular mitochondrial transfer and its regulation by Connexin 43 (Cx43), a major mediator of cell-cell communication in cancer.
The project will use quantitative mitochondrial-tracing approaches, including a recently established HiBiT-based platform, live-cell imaging, CRISPR-engineered cancer models and tumour-stromal co-culture systems to determine how mitochondrial exchange affects tumour-cell metabolism, stress adaptation and chemotherapy response. The work will initially exploit well-established breast cancer models, with opportunities to investigate whether the mechanisms identified are conserved in other tumour types, including lung and pancreatic cancer.
Main responsibilities and duties:
- Perform molecular and cellular biology experiments using cancer and stromal cell models, including CRISPR/Cas9-based genetic approaches to investigate Cx43-dependent mechanisms.
- Establish and characterise tumour-stromal co-culture

📌 Predoctoral Researcher (Yunclillos)
🏢 Fundacio Hospital Universitari Vall d'Hebron- Institut de recerca
📍 Yunclillos