Job ID: 121832
PhD in cancer neuroscience
Position: Ph.D. Student
Deadline: 23 February 2025
Contract Length: 4 years
City: Umeå
Country: Sweden
Institution: Umeå University
Department: Medical and Translational Biology
Description:
A 4-year fully funded PhD position in understanding the molecular and cellular crosstalk between cancer and the nervous system has become available at Umeå University, Sweden.
We encourage applications from highly motivated individuals with a keen interest in neuroscience, cancer and developmental biology. The studentship provides an excellent training opportunity for a talented and ambitious student. The working ‘day to day’ language in the laboratory is English. The project is multidisciplinary and full training is given. The start date is by mutual agreement.
Description of the project:
During cancer progression tumors communicate with the nervous system resulting in worse cancer outcomes. While nervous system/tumor interactions are robustly documented at a histological level, the molecular mechanisms underlying this, remain poorly understood. You will join an interdisciplinary collaborative team focusing on the signalling between the nervous system and tumors, leading to provocation of neural plasticity (such as growth and remodelling) and neurotropism of tumor cells (see the lab web page). You will engage a systematic strategy to identify these mechanisms by examining how the nervous system forms, grows and is remodelled normally (i) during nervous system development and (ii) pathologically in tumor models leading to more aggressive cancer, with an initial focus on pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). The long-term goal of this work is to generate knowledge to minimise the influence of nerve/tumor interactions during cancer progression.
You will receive extensive training:
In addition to the research the successful candidate will conduct, you will also receive extensive training. You will be part of the faculty-wide doctoral education programme which comprises 25 credits and will receive other training which will be tailored to your particular needs.
About the university and department:
The research is carried out in the laboratory of Associate Professor Sara Wilson located at the Department of Medical and Translational Biology (MTB), Umeå University, Sweden (see the lab webpage). MTB is an interdisciplinary department, which focuses on questions in basic and medical sciences and provides an interactive modern environment with good core facilities. Umeå University is one of Sweden’s largest higher education institutions with over 37,000 students and about 4,700 employees. The University offers a diversity of high-quality education and world-leading research in several fields. Notably, the groundbreaking discovery of the CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing tool, which was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, was made here.
Further information and how to apply:
You apply for the PhD position (reference number AN 2.2.1-1786-24), via our e-recruitment system here: https://umu.varbi.com/en/what:job/jobID:783574 by the end of 23rd February 2025. (this is the only method that applications can be made). Through this application portal you will also find further application information. The start date is by mutual agreement.
As part of your application, you should upload the following documents:
- A cover letter (not more than 1.5 A4 pages) where you explain clearly and succinctly your suitability for the position in relation to the qualifications, requirements, and merits in the announcement. We want to know about you, so please don’t use AI.
- Include a short (2 A4 pages) CV.
- Contact information for three referees should be included in your application, at least one of which should be a former laboratory supervisor.
Informal enquiries can be directed to Associate Professor Sara Wilson (sara.wilson@umu.se).
We look forward to your application!