Curricular Internships

**APPLICATION CLOSING DATE: May 30th 2025**

**Human Technopole (HT)**is an interdisciplinary life science research institute, created and supported by the Italian Government, with the aim of developing innovative strategies to improve human health. HT is composed of five Centers: Neurogenomics, Computational Biology, Structural Biology, Genomics, and Health Data Science. The Centers work together to enable interdisciplinary research and to create an open, collaborative environment that will help promote life science research both nationally and internationally.

**About the Kalebic Group**

Our research group investigates the molecular and cellular underpinnings of human brain development and related pathologies, including neurodevelopmental disorders and brain cancers. We utilize a multidisciplinary approach that integrates advanced molecular biology, CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing, advanced imaging techniques, computational analysis, and various model systems such as human primary tissue, cerebral organoids, and animal models.

In the context of neurodevelopment, we are studying molecular and cellular characteristics of neural progenitors whose impairments can result in alteration of the neocortical size and shape, which can lead to intellectual disabilities, such as Down syndrome. We have previously described how progenitor morphology is central to the regulation of their proliferation and differentiation (Kalebic et al., 2019; Ossola et al., BioRxiv, 2024).

In the context of brain cancers, we are interested in the molecular and cell biology of glioblastoma stem cells (GSCs) to identify new targets associated with the cancer proliferation and invasiveness. GSCs hijack neurodevelopmental pathways and share transcriptomic similarities with neural progenitors. We have recently demonstrated that GSCs exhibit a morphological heterogeneity which is tightly linked to their clinically relevant properties (Barelli C et al., BioRxiv 2025) and we have identified a neurodevelopmental morpho-regulator that alters GSC morphology, growth and therapy resistance (Barelli et al., 2024).

**Available internship projects**:
We are offering 2 to 3 positions related to the following two projects:
**1)** **Decoding neural progenitor morphotypes in Down syndrome**

**2) Uncovering morpho-regulatory drivers of glioblastoma aggressiveness**

**Your main tasks and activities**
- Maintenance of stem cell and/or organoid cultures
- Histology and immunofluorescence experiments
- Acquire expertise in various modalities of advanced light imaging
- Support image and omics analysis

**Essential requirements**
- Currently a Master student (neurobiology, cancer biology, cell and molecular biology or similar);
- Previous lab experience;
- Theoretical knowledge in developmental neurobiology or cancer biology.

**Preferred requirements**
- Previous experience in cell culture;
- Previous experience in histology and microscopy.

**Organizational and social skills**
- Excellent communication skills;
- Excellent team working skills.

**Application Instructions**
- a CV (max 1 page with a list of acquired lab techniques)
- a motivation letter in English (max 1 page with a clear motivation to join the Kalebic group)

***Why Human Technopole**

HT seeks scientific excellence, we recruit the best scientific talents through international, open calls.

Our working environment is international, friendly and inclusive. Our scientists work together across disciplines on research topics of biomedical relevance, leveraging synergies between their diverse skillsets and methodological approaches.

We believe that highly diverse teams yield the best and most innovative results.

We engage in outward-facing scientific activities aimed at benefiting the national and international research community. Training is also at the heart of our activity, with initiatives and opportunities for our staff, including scientific courses, conferences and workshops.

**What we offer**
- Canteen service.
- Guest House upon availability, if needed.
- Access to all training initiatives targeted to HT scientists.
- International research environment with networking and training opportunities.
- Supervision by experienced researchers providing personalized feedback and career advice.

**Number of positions offered**:Up to 3

**The position is based in Milan.