PhD fellowship in Translational Neuroscience at the Department of Neuroscience
Copenhagen University
We are offering a PhD fellowship in Translational Neuroscience commencing around August 1st, 2024. The research will take place at the Department of Neuroscience (in.ku.dk) at University of Copenhagen in the lab of Professor Jens Mikkelsen (Jens Holm Mikkelsen (nru.dk)), and at Neurobiology Research Unit, University hospital Rigshospitalet.
Our group and research
Our lab was founded in 2021, with the goal of determining synaptic plasticity and neuroinflammation in the human brain in epilepsy and other CNS diseases. We are part of a translational research team also involving Professor, Lars Pinborg, Epilepsy clinic. We use both tissues and cells from the human brain and from animal models of epilepsy to examine biomarkers that change in response to seizures, and epilepsy and can be used as drug targets and diagnostics. The research team consists of post- and predoctoral researchers, as well as master students. We are using state-of-the-art methods for the measuring biomarkers, and we also work with animal models of epilepsy.
Project description
We are seeking a motivated and competent student to join our research team that is interested in cellular changes in epileptogenesis. The focus is to identify the cellular circuits that change under the epileptogenesis, and investigate the behavioral consequences of these changes. You will be conducting experimental laboratory work using several techniques. These spans from standard methods of measuring proteins and mRNA to more advanced methods using MERFISH technology to directly map and quantify the spatial distribution of hundreds of RNA species in individual cells.
The successful applicant will join a thriving international neuroscience environment. The applicant will be the major participant in all aspects of the project, from designing and performing experiments, developing technical advances, performing data analysis, and presenting the results.
Principal supervisor is Professor, Jens Mikkelsen, Department of Neuroscience, [email protected], and co-supervisor is Professor Lars Pinborg, Epilepsy Clinic, Department of Clinical medicine
Duration: 3 years as a PhD student + 3 months as Research Assistant for enrolment, if relevant.
Job description
Your key tasks as a PhD student at SUND are:
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, Molecular biomedicine. Please note that your master's degree must be equivalent to a Danish master's degree (two years).
Other important criteria are:
Place of employment
You will be employed at the Department of Neuroscience, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, but experimental work will also be conducted at the Neurobiology research unit, Rigshospitalet. We offer creative and stimulating working conditions in a dynamic and international research environment.
Living in Copenhagen
Copenhagen is a fantastic city and a wonderful living experience, and it has consistently been ranked among the world's best cities to live in. Our lab is located centrally in the neighborhood Nørrebro, which recently was ranked as the world's coolest neighborhood by Time Out Magazine. University of Copenhagen has an International staff mobility program to help accommodate international researchers with practical matters, before arrival such as with residence permit, housing, and childcare/school as well as during the stay with salary, tax, pension, insurance, banking as well as getting accustomed with language and culture.
Terms of employment The average weekly working hours are 37 hours per week.
The PhD position is a fixed-term position limited to a period of 3 years. The start date is August 1st, 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 28,900 DKK/Roughly 3,800 EUR (October 2023 level) plus pension.
Questions For specific information about the PhD fellowship, please contact the principal supervisor.
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 possible)
Application deadline: 3 April, 2024 , 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: https: // 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.