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University of Bergen

The University of Bergen is a renowned educational and research institution, organised into seven faculties and approximately 54 institutes and academic centres. Campus is located in the centre of Bergen with university areas at Nygårdshøyden, Haukeland, Marineholmen, Møllendalsveien and Årstad.

There are five departments and seven centres at Faculty of Medicine. Read More about the faculty and departments.

PhD position

At the Faculty of Medicine, Department of Biomedicine, in the group of Professor Ruth Brenk (http://www.uib.no/en/rg/brenk ), a PhD-position (100 %) is available for a period of four (4) years or max 4 months after completed the PhD-degree, if this is achieved within a shorter time than four years. The positions include 25 % required duties such as teaching, exam work or supervision, depending on the demands at the department.

The position is part of the project “RESPONsible early Digital Drug Discovery – RESPOND3: Towards better computational approaches and responsible innovation strategies in early drug discovery: application to antibiotics and COPD” financed by The Research Council of Norway.

About the project/work tasks:

The RESPOND3 project is part of the Centre for Digital Life Norway (https://digitallifenorway.org/) and is a cross disciplinary collaboration between research groups at the Centre for Advanced studies in Biomedical Innovation Law at the University of Copenhagen, the Department of Computing, Mathematics and Physics at the Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, the Department of Biomedicine at the Faculty of Medicine and at the Department of Chemistry at the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences at the University of Bergen. In total, the team will be composed of 4 postdocs, 3 PhD students and five principle investigators covering medicinal chemistry, computational chemistry and biology, structural biology, mathematics, and law. The main focus of RESPOND3 will be hit and lead optimization for targets for antibiotics (SAM riboswitch) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (proteinase 3) guided by the use of computational methods as well as the development of new scoring functions using machine learning. The entire project is embedded in a responsible research and innovation strategy.

The main objectives for the position are

• to derive data sets for the development of new scoring functions for protein-ligand interactions with machine learning methods
• to retro- and prospectively evaluate the derived scoring functions
• to design ligands with improved affinities for the targets in the RESPOND3 project
• to supervise master students

This PhD project will be conducted in collaboration with the group of Matthias Rarey at the Center for Bioinformatics of University of Hamburg (Germany) implying that this position will involve short stays in his lab.

Qualifications and personal qualities:

• The applicant must hold a master`s degree or equivalent within the field of cheminformatics, bioinformatics, pharmacy, medicinal chemistry, biochemistry, or a related discipline.
• The applicant must have a thorough understanding of the physico-chemical properties of small molecules and the principles of small molecule-protein interactions.
• Basic knowledge of a scripting language is required.
• Experience with determining binding or inhibition constants will be advantageous.
• Experience from related research projects will be considered favourable.
• The candidate must demonstrate a strong commitment and enthusiasm for structure-based drug design and for research in general.
• The candidate must be able to work independently and interactively in a team setting.
• A structured approach to work and excellent communication skills and fluency in both written and spoken English are required.

Applicants whose education is from another country than Norway, need to also attach a certified translation of the diploma and transcript of grades to English or a Scandinavian language. If the original is not in any of these languages, it is required that the applicant enclose a review from NOKUT whether the education in question is of a scope and level that corresponds to the level of a Norwegian master’s degree.

Please see www.nokut.no/en for more information about NOKUT’s general recognition. The review from NOKUT may take some time and the application should be sent to NOKUT as soon as you have decided to apply for the position. If no answer within the application deadline, please enclose documentation from NOKUT that they have received your application.

Language qualifications:

http://www.uib.no/en/med/115526/english-language-requirements-phd-admission

About the PhD position:

• The candidate must take part in the University of Bergen approved PhD programme leading to the degree within a time limit of 3 years. You must have admission to the organized research training (PhD program) at the Faculty in order to qualify for the position.
• Application for admission to the PhD programme, including a project plan outline for the training plan must be submitted no later than three months after the date of commencement.
• PhD-positions are fixed term positions. You cannot be employed in a PhD-position for more than one fixed term period at the same institution or have had similar employment at an institution in the region.

We can offer:

• Exciting development opportunities as part of your role in a strong professional environment
• salary at pay grade 51 (code 1017/pay framework 20.9) NKR 449 400 before taxes, in the state scale. Further increases in salary will be based on seniority in the position.
• enrolment in the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund
• Good welfare benefits

Your application must include:

• a brief account of the applicant`s research interests and motivation for applying for the position
• certified copies of diplomas and transcripts of grades.

Applicant whose education is from another country than Norway, need to also attach a certified translation of the diploma and transcript of grades to English or a Scandinavian language, if the original is not in any of these languages. It is required that the applicant enclose a review from NOKUT whether the education in question is of a scope and level that corresponds to the level of a Norwegian master’s degree. Please see www.nokut.no/en for more information about NOKUT’s general recognition. This may take some time and we recommend you to apply as soon as you know you will apply for this position. If no answer within the application deadline, please enclose documentation from NOKUT that they have received your application

• documentation of language skills (English) http://www.uib.no/en/med/115526/english-language-requirements-phd-admission
• complete list of publications and scientific work you want to be evaluated
• any publication in your name
• two referees (name and contact information)

General information:

For further information, please contact:

• Ruth Brenk, e-mail: ruth.brenk@uib.no, phone: +47 55 58 60 70.

The state labour force shall reflect the diversity of Norwegian society to the greatest extent possible. People with immigrant backgrounds and people with disabilities are encouraged to apply for the position.

The University of Bergen applies the principle of public access to information when recruiting staff for academic positions.

Information about applicants may be made public even if the applicant has asked not to be named on the list of persons who have applied. The applicant must be notified if the request to be omitted is not met.

The successful applicant must comply with the guidelines that apply to the position at all times.

For further information about the recruitment process, click here.

Apply for position