Project Associate-ii

**Application Closing Date: 17th May 2025**

**Position**:Project Associate-II

**No. of positions**:2

**Appointing Organisation**:Tata Translational Cancer Research Centre

Tata Medical Center, Kolkata

**The Tata Medical Center and the Tata Translational Cancer Research Centre**

The Tata Medical Center (TMC) is a multispecialty institution for tertiary cancer care based in New Town,

Kolkata. At TMC, clinical and research activities are integrated to provide state-of-the-art care for patients

with cancer. This integration is enabled by the Tata Translational Cancer Research Centre (TTCRC), the

research arm of TMC. TTCRC is within a dedicated academic space and spread over 3 floors. At TTCRC,

a multidisciplinary team of clinicians, scientists, academics and industry professionals collaborate to

develop a systems medicine approach in cancer research. This approach is focussed on developing

innovative, indigenous, cost-effective and equitable strategies to improve cancer diagnosis; develop

treatments that match disease characteristics and are adapted to treatment response; and, identify prognostic

and predictive disease biomarkers. These strategies are multi-dimensional and involve an iterative pathway

that include clinical studies, high-throughput laboratory investigations, computational strategies to

integrate, analyse and model data, hypothesis-based pre-clinical studies and evidence-based translation of

findings to clinical practice. For additional information on work at TTCRC, visit

**PReDiCT research group and the project position**

**P**ersonalised **Re**sidual **Di**sease **T**racking in **C**ancer (PReDiCT) group is focussed on tracking mínimal

residual disease (MRD) in Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) patients and work in an integrated

fashion with the clinical genomics team at TTCRC. We employ genomic methods to identify patient

specific targets and then track them to measure the disease burden after each phase of treatment. This work

has a great translational impact and helps in clinical decision making for the patients’ treatment. The group

is internationally accredited for the mínimal residual disease detection in childhood ALL by RQ-PCR

method. PReDiCT group works in close collaboration with University of Charite and DKMS LSL,

Germany. The group is presently dedicated in two different activities: (a) Prospective MRD monitoring in

ALL patients and (b) implementation of NGS based workflow for MRD monitoring. The group has a

dedicated laboratory facility equipped with Illumina, Sanger and Nanopore sequencers and it facilitates

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several national and international collaborative studies. The group is supported by a dedicated clinical

research unit (CRU) and biorepository unit (TiMBR) at TTCRC.

The project entitled as “**HemaTrack-ALL a robust, reproducible, highly sensitive next generation**

**assay for the detection and quantification of mínimal residual disease in acute lymphoblastic**

**leukemia**” is funded for three years by Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India.

Applications are invited for the position of **Project Associate-II** within PReDiCT group at TTCRC.

responsibility will be to maintain good laboratory practices and perform responsibilities mentioned below:
(a) Identifying patients for HemaTrack-ALL project

(b) DNA extraction of patient’s samples and QC for MRD workflows

(c) Tracking MRD for ALL patients

(d) Reporting the MRD results on time

(e) Proper documentation of regular experiments

(f) Taking part in the quality assessment (QA) twice a year organised by Euro MRD consortium

(g) Active participation in data presentations in group meetings and journal club.

**Minimum required qualifications/experience**

(a) Master’s degree in Biological Sciences with expertise**in Molecular Biology and Genomics

(b) Hands-on experience in basic laboratory protocols and techniques like DNA extraction, quality check,

qPCR, sequencing (Sanger and/or next generation sequencing)

(c) Soft skills: MS Office, Laboratory and clinical data management

(d) Competency in managing large data, data analysis and familiarity with statistical analysis softwares and

GraphPad Prism.

**Additional experience**
- Exposure in handling patients’ samples
- library preparation on Illumina platform is preferred but not mandatory.

**Necessary qualities**

(a) Integrity, motivation, enthusiasm, responsibility and reliability

(b) Focus and commitment in carrying out tasks and duties

(c) Critical analytical and problem-solving skills, capable of independent work

(d) Ability to work effectively as part of a multidisciplinary team

**Appointment and reporting**

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Appointment to the position will be for **two** years. The basic monthly salary is **INR 35,000, plus 24% HRA**

(with CSIR-UGC NET or GATE qualification) or **INR 28,000, plus 24% HRA** (without NET /GATE

qualification). The position will be funded by Department of