PhD fellowship in Brain Clearance Mechanisms for Neuropathology at Center for Translational Neuromedicine

We are offering a PhD fellowship in Brain Clearance Mechanisms of Neuropathology commencing on 1 April 2024 or after agreement.

Our group and research
Center for Translational Neuromedicine (CTN) currently has 60 employees and students. CTN is characterized by a highly ambitious research environment. The PhD Fellow will be part of the Nedergaard lab. Being part of the Nedergaard lab offers an opportunity to work in a multi-disciplinary lab engaged in neuroscience with a focus on the basic biology of glial cells in the CNS and the role of astrocytes in several neurological diseases, including stroke, spinal cord injury, epilepsy, tremor, and ALS. Research is aimed at defining new strategies for the treatment of neurological diseases that target astrocytic dysfunction.

CTN is part of the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, and is located at Panum. The Center comprises modern laboratories and excellent facilities within neuroscience.

Project description

The concept of the glymphatic system which functions to promote cerebrospinal and interstitial fluid (CSF/ISF) waste clearance from the central nervous system via the subarachnoid and perivascular spaces, is still a relatively recently understood phenomenon. Impaired brain fluid (CSF/ISF) clearance has been shown to be related with several neurological conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, stroke and TBI. Despite the presence of supportive evidence indicating routes of clearance pathways and the correlation between different neuropathological conditions and brain fluid clearance, we still lack a complete understanding of the functional relevance in neurophysiology, and how it contributes to neuropathological events.

The proposed PhD project will focus on the visualization and characterization of brain fluid clearance function to understand how it controls brain physiology and contributes to disease progression and treatment strategies. The successful candidate will use various animal disease models to study different neuropathological conditions using mainly biomedical imaging techniques, including preclinical 9.4T MRI and CT/SPECT, but also instruments as electrophysiological recordings, immunohistochemistory and advanced optical imaging- and microscopic techniques. In addition, the project will provide new techniques for glymphatic outflow imaging and develop experimental workflows to explore neuropathological biomarkers and neuro-immune coupling in relation to brain fluid clearance. Finally, the project will investigate therapeutic approaches to brain fluid clearance related pathologies.

Keyword: Neurovascular disorders, stroke, neurodegenerative disorders, glymphatic, clearance, MRI, CT, SPECT, immune system

Principal supervisor is Professor Maiken Nedergaard. The successful candidate will refer to Dr. Nedergaard.

Start: 1 April 2024

Duration: 3 years as a PhD student

Job description
Your key tasks as a PhD student at SUND are:

• Carrying out an independent research project under supervision.
• Completing PhD courses or other equivalent education corresponding to approximately 30 ECTS points.
• Participating in active research environments including a stay at another research team.
• Obtaining experience with teaching or other types of dissemination related to your PhD project.
• Teaching and disseminating your knowledge.
• Writing a PhD thesis on the grounds of your project

Key criteria for the assessment of applicants
Applicants must have qualifications corresponding to a master’s degree related to the subject area of the project, e.g., neuroscience or preferably M.D with neurological/neurosurgical background for translational purposes. Note that your master’s degree must be equivalent to a Danish master’s degree (minimum two years (120 ECTS).

Other important criteria are:

Your tasks will include the design and implementation of experimental workflows, which allow the animal handling, data acquisition, visualization, quantification, and modeling the brain fluid clearance kinetics in different disease models. Scientific expertise in biomedical imaging, neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, neurobiology or neuroimmunology will be an advantage. Also, you are expected to train and mentor students at Master level.

Experience with the following techniques will be an advantage:

• Animal surgeries and disease model, experience from neurosurgical techniques is considered a plus
• In vivo preclinical biomedical imaging (incl. MRI, CT, SPECT)
• Image processing
• Statistical analysis of biomedical data
• Immunohistochemistry
• Advanced microscopic techniques
• Coding (MATLAB, Python)
• Translational research on glymphatic system

Place of employment

The place of employment is at the Center for Translational Neuromedicine, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen. We offer creative and stimulating working conditions in dynamic and international research environment. Our research center comprises modern laboratories and excellent facilities within neuroscience.

Terms of employment
The average weekly working hours are 37 hours per week.

The position is a fixed-term position limited to a period of 3 years. The start date is 1 April 2024 or after agreement.

The employment is conditioned upon the applicant’s success­ful enrolment as a PhD student at the Graduate School at the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen. This requires submission and acceptance of an application for the specific project formulated by the applicant.

The PhD study must be completed in accordance with The Ministerial Order on the PhD programme (2013) and the Faculty’s rules on achieving the degree.

Salary, pension and terms of employment are in accordance with the agree­ment between the Ministry of Taxation and The Danish Confederation of Professional Associations on Academics in the State. Depending on seniority, the monthly salary starts at approximately 27,800 DKK/Roughly 3,700 EUR (October 2021 level) plus pension.

Questions
For specific information about the PhD fellowship, please contact the principal supervisor Maiken Nedergaard, [email protected] or Center Administrator Ann Christensen, [email protected].

General information about PhD studies at the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences is available at the Graduate School’s website: https://healthsciences.ku.dk/phd/guidelines/

Application procedure
Your application must be submitted electronically by clicking ‘Apply now’ below. The application must include the following documents in PDF format:

1. Motivated letter of application (max. one page)

2. CV incl. education, experience, language skills and other skills relevant for the position

3. Certified copy of original Master of Science diploma and transcript of records in the original language, including an authorized English translation if issued in other language than English or Danish. If not completed, a certified/signed copy of a recent transcript of records or a written statement from the institution or supervisor is accepted. As a prerequisite for a PhD fellowship employment, your master’s degree must be equivalent to a Danish master’s degree. We encourage you to read more in the assessment database: https://ufm.dk/en/education/recognition-and-transparency/find-assessments/assessment-database. Please note that we might ask you to obtain an assessment of your education performed by the Ministry of Higher Education and Science

4. Publication list (if any)

Application deadline: 19 December 2023, 23.59pm CET

We reserve the right not to consider material received after the deadline, and not to consider applications that do not live up to the abovementioned requirements.

The further process
After the expiry of the deadline for applications, the authorized recruitment manager selects applicants for assessment on the advice of the hiring committee. All applicants are then immediately notified whether their application has been passed for assessment by an unbiased assessor.

The assessor makes a non-prioritized assessment of the academic qualifications and experience with respect to the above-mentioned area of research, techniques, skills and other requirements listed in the advertisement.

Once the assessment work has been completed each applicant has the opportunity to comment on the part of the assessment that relates to the applicant him/herself.

You find information about the recruitment process at: http://employment.ku.dk/faculty/recruitment-process/

The applicants will be assessed according to the Ministerial Order no. 242 of 13 March 2012 on the Appointment of Academic Staff at Universities.

The University of Copenhagen wish to reflect the diversity of society and encourage all qualified candidates to apply regardless of personal background.

Kilde: Jobnet.dk