Early Stage Researcher 7 (PhD Candidate) for the NANOMED European Training Network within the Marie Sklodowska Curie Programme (1,0 FTE)

Early Stage Researcher 7: Small-sized polymeric micelles for targeted drug delivery

The task of the ESR is to rationally design and synthesize pH-sensitive, amphiphilic block copolymers that can form small-sized micelles suitable for delivery of small molecule drugs. These polymeric micelles will be fully characterized in terms of colloidal stability, drug loading capacity and targeted delivery of anticancer drugs to tumors. You will perform your PhD research in a multidisciplinary Initial Training Network (ITN) project called NANOMED.

At the time of recruitment you must be in the first four years of your research career and have not yet been awarded a doctoral degree; You have excellent communication skills and are able to work efficiently in a team. Specific technical requirements are mentioned separately for the individual ESR descriptions. Recruitment is open to all nationalities, but because of mobility rules defined by the EU, at the time of recruitment, candidates must not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in the Netherlands for more than twelve months in the three years immediately prior to the reference date (compulsory national service and/or short stays such as holidays are not taken into account).

Skills required:

• Basic organic chemistry;
• Polymer chemistry;
• NMR spectroscopy;
• Separation techniques.

The candidate is offered a full-time position for four years.

The salary is supplemented with a holiday bonus of 8% and an end-of-year bonus of 8,3% per year. In addition we offer: a pension scheme, a partially paid parental leave, flexible employment conditions. Conditions are based on the Collective Labour Agreement Dutch Universities. The research group will provide the candidate with necessary support on all aspects of the project. For more information  visit Working at Utrecht University. The gross salary is in the range between € 2125,- and maximum € 2717,- per month.

Utrecht University has great ambitions for its teaching quality and study success rates. This also applies to its clear research profiles which are centred around four themes: Dynamics of Youth, Institutions for Open Societies, Life Sciences and Sustainability. Utrecht University plays a prominent role in our society and contributes to finding the answers to topical and future societal issues.

The Faculty of Science consists of six departments: Biology, Pharmaceutical Sciences, Information and Computing Sciences, Physics and Astronomy, Chemistry and Mathematics. The Faculty is home to 3500 students and nearly 2000 staff and is internationally renowned for the quality of its research. The Faculty's academic programmes reflect developments in today's society.

The core activity of the Pharmaceutics groups is the design and pre-clinical testing of tailor-made drug delivery systems for site-specific, time- and/or rate-controlled delivery of small molecular weight drugs, therapeutic proteins, and nucleic acids (including DNA and siRNA). The major strength of the department is the multidisciplinary nature. As such it can cover the development of drug delivery systems from the design and synthesis up to preclinical testing. It has a good infrastructure for synthesis and characterization of nanoparticles in addition to a dedicated cell culture facility. In addition, it has access to one of the biggest laboratory animal facilities in Europe providing support in animal testing and in vivo imaging. The dept. Pharmaceutics is a member of the faculty of Science, but is also part of the Utrecht Life Science Cluster with the aim to advance therapies into the clinic. In addition, the dept. Pharmaceutics has many collaborations with academic groups and biopharmaceutical companies worldwide.

Additional information about the vacancy can be obtained from: Prof.dr.ir. Wim Hennink (W.E.Hennink@uu.nl)

As part of the selection procedure, the candidate is expected to give an outline of his/her research plans in a written report and an oral presentation.

To apply please attach a letter of motivation, curriculum vitae and (email) addresses of two referees.
Application deadline is 18-11-2015
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