Marie Curie-PhD position in Microfluidic methods for bead-based assays on-chip - Hiring in process/Finished, not possible to apply

The Marie Curie-PhD-position is at the Division of Microsystems Technology, Department of Engineering Sciences, Ångström Laboratory.

Marie Skłodowska-Curie European Training Networks (ETNs) are joint research and training projects funded by the European Union. Funding is provided for PhD students from both inside and outside Europe to carry out individual project work in a European country other than their own. The European training network “EUROoC” is made up of 11 core and 10 associate partners from academia, industry and regulatory agencies, coordinated by Fraunhofer IGB. The network will recruit a total of 15 PhD students for project work lasting for 36 months, https://eurooc.eu/eurooc-network/#esr.

Organ-on-a-Chip (OoC) technology is advancing at breath taking pace due to its potential impact in drug development and personalised treatments of disease. New PhD:s/researchers entering this field must be equipped with a multidisciplinary background ranging from biology to microfluidic chip engineering. EUROoC offers the first complete and coherent European training program on OoC by gathering multidisciplinary participants (biologists, physicists, chemists, engineers) in a multi-sectoral network composed of six companies, three regulation entities and twelve academic institutions.

EUROoC will qualify the next generation of interdisciplinary scientists for all aspects of OoC development and utilisation, including understanding of commercialisation pathways and regulatory aspects. EUROoC furthermore comprises a collection of innovative research projects addressing the development of advanced OoC systems with higher physiological significance going beyond current in vitro testing.

You will have the opportunity to work as part of an international, interdisciplinary team of 15 Marie Curie-PhD students, based at universities and industrial firms throughout Europe. You will gain a unique skill-set comprising microfabrication, biomaterial science and stem cell differentiation, as well as an overview of different organ-on-a-chip technologies and their implementation at industrial level. You are expected to finish the project with a PhD thesis and to disseminate the results through patents (if applicable), publications in peer-reviewed journals and presentations at international conferences.

The advertised project will be carried out by a Marie Curie-PhD student (“Early-stage Researcher”) at Uppsala University over a period of 42-48 months. The Marie Curie-PhD-student will work in the EMBLA Group headed by associate professor Maria Tenje, which develops microsystems for applications within the life sciences with a special interest on research related to micro/nano fabrication and processing of new materials.

The Marie Curie-PhD-student will develop a microfluidic manipulation method to introduce, incubate, elute and analyse microbeads for cytokine detection in low volumes. The main working tasks of the advertised subproject are to:

• develop a bead manipulation unit based on acoustic trapping;
• integrate the bead manipulations method with organ models developed by other project partners;
• perform and characterise immunoassays on-chip using the developed platform.

Secondments are planned as follows:

• Miltenyi Biotec GmbH, Germany for 2 months;
• Universitaet Bern, Switzerland for 3 months;
• Universite du Luxembourg, Luxembourg for 2 months;
• Fraunhofer Gesellschaft zur Foerderung der angewandten Forschung e.V., Germany for 2 months.

We are looking for a candidate with the following qualifications/experience:

• Graduation in the field of engineering sciences, material science, nanotechnology, biomedical engineering or related fields – M.Sc. preferred;
• Basic knowledge of microfabrication, integrated acoustics, chip-to-world interfacing;
• Practical experience of PDMS moulding, LabView programming and fluorescence microscopy is a plus;
• Basic knowledge of data analysis and Microsoft Office;
• Well-structured and autonomous working style, good organizational and communication skills;
• Fluency in written and spoken English is a must.

The eligibility criteria for this specific project are as follows:

• The applicant must, at the date of recruitment, be in the first four years (full-time equivalent research experience) of their research careers and have not been awarded a doctoral degree. This is measured from the date when they obtained the undergraduate degree.
• The applicant must not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in Sweden for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately before the recruitment date. Compulsory national service, short stays such as holidays, and time spent as part of a procedure for obtaining refugee status under the Geneva Convention are not taken into account.

Uppsala University aims for gender balance and diversity in all activities in order to achieve a higher quality at all levels of the organization. We therefore welcome applicants of any gender and with different birth background, functionality and life experience.

The Marie Curie-PhD position is for 42-48 months, in addition departmental duties at a level of at most 20% (typically teaching) will be expected.

For further information, see http://www.teknat.uu.se and http://www.teknik.uu.se.

Application: Application by e-mail to the following address, quoting the reference „EUROoC-IGB-ESR8“: EUROoC@igb.fraunhofer.de.

Please send your CV, a half-page summary of master/diploma thesis, a letter of motivation (up to 2 pages) which states your research experience and interests, and names and contact information of at least two academic reference persons who could write a letter of recommendation.

For further information about the position please contact

Associate professor Maria Tenje (maria.tenje@angstrom.uu.se) or Dr. Susan Peacock (susan.peacock@angstrom.uu.se).

Starting date: 01-06-2019.

Type of position: Full time position.

Please submit your application by 17 February 2019, UFV-PA 2018/4767.

Are you considering moving to Sweden to work at Uppsala University? If so, you will find a lot of information about working and living in Sweden at www.uu.se/joinus. You are also welcome to contact International Faculty and Staff Services at ifss@uadm.uu.se.