PhD Fellow affiliated with the project “Imaging Ageing Endothelium at the Nanoscale”

The successful applicant will work on the project entitled “Investigation of blood-brain barrier (BBB) using novel super resolution technology” funded by the University of Tromsø and the EU-MSCA Doctoral Networks Program. The project has particular emphasis placed upon the application of high-resolution optical methods that enable functional and kinetic studies of the morphology of brain, bone-marrow and liver endothelial cells (ECs) in vitro and in situ. Because the size of many relevant features– e.g., cellular fenestrations (holes through the cells of 50-200 nm) in the endothelium that comprises the blood-brain barrier – is well below the spatial resolution of conventional optical microscopes, they have so far mostly escaped our ability to directly follow their development and modulation in vitro and in vivo.

Thanks to a close collaboration with the Physics Dept. at UiT, we now have new optical tools available that can overcome the fundamental limit of spatial resolution in optics, the diffraction limit. Specific objectives of this proposal are: (A) to develop ex vivo hypothalamic slice cultures with access to fenestrated blood-brain barrier for super-resolution microscopy; (B) to determine acute effects of bath-applied metabolic hormones and sex hormones on structure (e.g., fenestrations) of endothelial cells that comprise BBB; (C) to implement fiber-based super-resolution microscopy in vivo in mice to assess integrity of BBB; and (D) to evaluate physiologically-relevant manipulations of hormone levels in vivo (e.g., in response to fasting or due to cycle stage).

All applications must be submitted via the jobbnorge.no website where more details on the position and required qualifications are also included: https://www.jobbnorge.no/en/available-jobs/job/251701/phd-fellow-affiliated-with-the-project-imaging-ageing-endothelium-at-the-nanoscale