PhD Student in Stem Cell-based Therapy for Intervertebral Disc Repair

The Bone & Joint Program of the Department for BioMedical Research (DBMR) University of Bern, and the Department for Orthopaedics & Traumatology, Insel University Hospital Bern, Switzerland, seeks a PhD Student in Stem Cell-based Therapy for Intervertebral Disc Repair.

The position is for four years , we are starting 1 May 2023.

Low back pain (LBP) is a severe pathology, which affects about 80% of western societies. The LBP is often associated with degenerated intervertebral discs (IVD) of the spine. There are currently no ideal solutions available to restore a degenerated disc and its functions. The selected candidate will be integrated into an internationally competitive research environment combining experimental and theoretical methods to test original scientific hypotheses and to develop innovative stem cell methodologies and technology to "rescue" or repair the degenerated intervertebral disc. She/he will work on a cross-disciplinary research project that has been funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF).

The research will be on testing and developing a new technology on cell sorting and testing the feasibility of cell therapy in an in-house developed organ culture system using a two Degree-of-Freedom bioreactor using bovine coccygeal IVDs. Laboratory methods involve cell isolation, cell sorting by FACS, qPCR, Western blotting, ELISA, immune-histology, microscopy but also mechano-biological testing, transcriptomics and proteomics. The ideal candidate has a crossdisciplinary CV with a strong background in lab bench work, molecular biology and engineering skills. Additional experience with animal in-vivo research or willingness to assist and perform animal experiments in rodents will be favoured. Thus, a LTK1 course module would be very welcome but could be added during the Ph D. The candidate will also advise undergraduate students in her/his domain of expertise and may also be involved in the teaching of tissue engineering courses for biomedical engineers.

Candidates must hold a Master's degree or an equivalent degree in Biomedical Engineering or Biology. Knowledge of German is helpful, and persuasive writing skills in English are necessary. The University of Bern aims at increasing the proportion of women in its scientific personnel and explicitly encourages qualified women to apply for this position.

Please, send your application, including a letter of motivation, complete CV including three references and records until 28 February 2023 , to [email protected].

www. dbmr.unibe.ch www. tom-lab.com

Prof Dr Benjamin Gantenbein Bone & Joint Program Tissue Engineering for Orthopaedics & Mechanobiology Murtenstrasse 35 CH-3008 Bern Schweiz

www. unibe.ch