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.
Through robust and close interaction with the world around us – globally, nationally and locally – we shall be instrumental in building a society based on knowledge, skills and attitudes.
Do you want to take part in shaping the future?
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 three (3) years. The position is part of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Innovative Training Networks (ITN) on Exploiting the methylerythritol phosphate pathway as a source of drug targets for novel anti-infectives (MepAnti) (http://mepanti.hips-wordpress.helmholtz-hzi.de/) and funded by the European Commission.
About the project/work tasks:
Antimicrobial resistance is a serious global health problem and the discovery and development of novel anti-infective agents is highly urgent. The MepAnti network with 11 academic partners and 6 non-academic partners aims to go beyond the state-of-the-art in the anti-infective field by tackling the attractive and underexplored enzymes from the 2C-methyl-D-erythritol 4-phosphate (MEP) pathway in an interdisciplinary approach.
The here advertised position is the position of the early-stage researcher 8 (ESR 8, Fragment screening by Biolayer Interferometry (BLI) for inhibitors of the MEP pathway) and is part of the fragment- and cell based work package (http://mepanti.hips-wordpress.helmholtz-hzi.de/?page_id=183). The work package focuses on the identification of novel hit compounds following a fragment-screening approach. The optimisation of the best hit compounds will be done by monitoring both the in vitro activities on target and the cell-based activity. The frequency-of-resistance development of the most promising new compounds via the generation of resistant strains will be pursued.
The main objectives for ESR8 are:
To use biolayer interferometry (BLI) to perform fragment screening for enzymes of the MEP pathway
To use virtual screening for hit discovery of enzymes of the MEP pathway
Hit validation using orthogonal assays
Computational design of optimized ligands
During the 3 year PhD projects, the fellow will have two secondments, one to the Helmholtz-Zentrum für Infektionsforschung (HZI) and one to OmicScouts.
Qualifications and personal qualities:
The applicant must hold a master`s degree or equivalent in the field of pharmacy, medicinal chemistry, biochemistry, cheminformatics, bioinformatics or a related discipline.
The applicant must have documented experience in at least one of the following areas:
Binding asssay development
Fragment screening
Virtual screening
Experience in several of the listed areas and/or addtional experience with surface plasmon resonance (SPR), BLI or a related technique will be advantegeous
Experience from related research projects will be considered favourable.
The candidate must demonstrate a strong commitment and enthusiasm for hit discovery using fragment and virutal screening, for research in general, and to work as part of an international team of PhD students.
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.
In addtion, the applicant has to comply with the ESR rule of the funding agency:
ESRs are those who:
at the time of recruitment are within the first four years (full-time equivalent research experience) of their research career and do not hold a doctoral degree.
have not resided or carried out the main activity (e.g. work, studies) in the country to which they would like to be recruited “for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately before the recruitment date” (mandatory to provide supporting documentation proving the place(s) of residence or work during the previous 3 years). Mobility rules are applied to the residence and not to the nationality.
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 (bachelor and master degree) 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, you may enclose documentation from NOKUT that they have received your application.
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.
The PhD-position:
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 54 (code 1017/pay framework 20.10) NKR 479 600 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
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 (both bachelor and master degree) 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
State employment 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 omitted is not met.
For further information about the recruitment process, click here.
