PhD Student (Marie Curie Sklodowska) in Translational Prostate Cancer Research
The University of Turku (UTU)is an active, truly international research university, provider and developer of Finnish high-quality education. The University has 7 faculties and 11 independent units. There are over 20,000 students and 3,300 staff members. Biosciences and medicine belong to the strong research areas of UTU and are at the international top of the field. Drug development and diagnostics is one of the six profiling themes in the research strategy of the University.
Turku is the former capital and the oldest town in Finland (est. 1223) with 200 000 inhabitants located on the southwestern coast. Besides University of Turku, the city harbors the Swedish speaking Åbo Akademi University and the Turku University of Applied Sciences, each with more than 9000 students and staff members. Turku and its neighborhood are the center of the pharmaceutical and diagnostic industry as well as ship yarding industry in Finland. For centuries, the cultural life in the city is lively and flourishing.
Project description
Applications are invited for the PhD Student (Marie Curie Sklodowska) positionfor three years (36 months) at the Institute of Biomedicine, University of Turku in a collaborative research project “Organotypic tissue models that recapitulate tumour-host interactions in castration resistant prostate cancer (CRPC)” led by Professor Matthias Nees and Professor Pirkko Härkönen. The position is planned to start on June 1st, 2017 but the starting date could be sooner as agreed with the supervisors and the appointed PhD student.
The project is part of Translational Research Network for Prostate Cancer (TransPot, H2020-MSCA-ITN, 721746), which is a research training network of 11 academic, clinical and industrial partners. The aim of this innovative, multidisciplinary research program is to tackle lethal prostate cancer (PC) using methods of Translational Cancer Research, Cancer Cell Biology and Applied Systems Biology/ Systems Medicine. TransPot will integrate the leading research scientists and laboratories in Europe with an interest in these research fields to train 11 early stage researchers (ESRs; or PhD students). The latest research technologies will be applied and the TransPot consortium offers an innovative research training programme to our ESRs to ensure that they can effectively operate in today’s multi-disciplinary research environment. This includes both research (e.g. target validation and drug discovery; biomarker discovery and validation, genomics analyses, analyses; novel preclinical cell culture and in vivo models) and transferable skill sets (e.g. presentation and teaching skills, verbal and written communication, IT and bioinformatics etc.). The TransPot project is coordinated by University of Glasgow (UK), and includes as partner institutions the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne (UK), The Queen’s University of Belfast (UK), University of Turku (Finland), Erasmus Medical Center Rotterdam (Holland), University of Tampere (Finland), BioMedical Research Foundation of the Academy of Athens (Greece), Mosaiques Diagnostics GMBH, Genomescan B.V., and Almac Diagnostics Limited.
Description
A PhD Student (Marie Curie Sklodowska) is recruited to work in a project “Organotypic tissue models that recapitulate tumour-host interactions in castration resistant prostate cancer (CRPC)” as part of the TransPot programme, at the Institute of Biomedicine, University of Turku for a 3-year period. The project is led by Professors Matthias Nees and Pirkko Härkönen. This project focuses on developing representative, in vitro and in vivo models for castration resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). The tasks include generation of complex organotypic 3D-models of tumor and stromal cells, based on primary cell and explant cultures. In parallel, the candidate will generate in vivoxenografts and metastasis models from patient-derived tumor material. These models are applied for mechanistic studies and evaluation of drug responses. The Nees group has a wide expertise in advanced cell and tissue culture models, while the Härkönen group has a long experience in tissue cultures and tumor/metastasis models, incl. the analysis of human prostate cancer specimens and their hormone and paracrine (FGF/FGFR-mediated) regulation. Both groups work in very close collaboration with each other and with clinical researchers (urologists and pathologists) that provide fresh prostate cancer specimens completed with diagnostic and clinical data. – The student will enroll in a doctoral programme at University of Turku for formal doctoral studies.
The Institute of Biomedicine has excellent research facilities and access to the core services of the Center for Biotechnology Turku (CBT), including the National Sequencing Center, the Proteomics Core Facility, and a highly-advanced unit for bioimaging from molecules to live cells and living organisms (Turku Bioimaging Core). Also the Turku PET center, a world-class for clinical and experimental PET imaging, is also located on the campus. The Institute further harbors the Turku Center for Disease Modeling (TCDM), offering gene-modulated cell and animal models and a wide array of other disease models.
Requirements for the PhD candidate
- Master’s Degree or equivalent in medicine or suitable life sciences, gained before starting in the position
- Excellent knowledge of written and spoken English
- The candidate may have a citizenship of a Member State of the European Union, of an Associated Country, or of any other third country
- The candidate must not have resided, worked or studied in Finland for more than 12 months in the 3-year period immediately prior to his/her appointment.
Salary
The remunerations of the recruited early stage researchers will be according to the Marie Curie fellowships’ scheme of the European Commission (Horizon 2020, Work Programme 2016–2017). The salary is based on a fixed monthly payment set by the EU. For details, please see Horizon 2020 Work Programme 2016-2017.
There will be a four-month trial period in the beginning of the work contract.
Application
Candidates are invited to submit all application documents in English through the University's online application system from 23.01.2017 onwards.
Please, add the following attachments to your application:
- A letter stating your motivation to apply for this positio
- CV including a list of publications if any
- A transcript of grades
- Contact information for two references
The deadline for submitting an application is March 6th 2017 at 23:59in Finnish time (GMT+ 3 hours).
For more information please click "Further Official Information" below.
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