Master Student position: Site-specific differences in synovial tissues of patients with chronic arthritis

Short description

Chronic inflammatory arthritides occur at specific anatomical predilection sites. For example, rheumatoid arthritis (RA) starts in the small joints of the hands and feet and affects bigger, more proximal joints only later in disease or they are even spared. We previously found that synovial fibroblasts isolated from different joints differ in their transcriptome, epigenome and function. These differences could underlie the different susceptibility of joints to develop RA and could result in joint-specific differences in the inflammatory response. We now performed single-cell RNA sequencing from freshly isolated synovial tissues from different joints and want to create a comprehensive map of cellular and molecular differences between joints in health and disease.

Conditions

The master thesis involves the analysis of single-cell RNA sequencing data using available analysis tools in R and confirmation of detected differences in cell composition and/or activation by standard molecular biology techniques (immunofluorescence/immunohistochemistry, qPCR, cell culture, Western blot, ELISA). The candidate needs advanced knowledge of R and preferably previous experience in the analysis of single-cell RNAs sequencing data and molecular biology techniques.

Research Group

The role of synovial fibroblasts in RA – USZ