PhD student in Cell Biology of Nutrient Sensing

Research group ‘Cell Biology of Nutrient Sensing’

The vision of the research group Cell Biology of Nutrient Sensing is to elucidate the molecular mechanisms of cell growth control, nutrient sensing, and protein secretion; and to identify and functionally characterize novel regulators of these processes, focusing on their potential implementation as new targets for drug development.

Our work combines high-throughput omics approaches (functional genomic screens, advanced proteomic analyses, metabolomics) with state-of-the-art molecular biology, biochemistry, gene-editing, and high-resolution microscopy techniques.

We make use of established human and mouse cell lines, as well as primary and patient-derived cells, to address multiple fundamental biological questions, including:

• How is cell growth regulated in normal cells?
• How does its dysregulation contribute to the development of cancer and other age-related diseases?
• How do cells respond to nutrient starvation (signaling, metabolism, physiology), and what is the role of specific organelles in this process?
• How is protein secretion regulated upon starvation and stress, and how do secreted factors influence cellular physiology and cell-cell communication?
• Can we develop pharmacological or nutritional approaches to target ageing and age-related disease?

We seek highly motivated, ambitious, and talented scientists to join an enthusiastic and collaborative team in an outstanding scientific environment. The working language of the lab is English.

Research environment

The European Research Institute for the Biology of Aging (ERIBA) is a research institute within the University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG). ERIBA aims to discover molecular mechanisms of ageing that can be used as targets to prevent or delay age-related diseases.

Our research teams are working with different model systems and technology platforms and share their knowledge and expertise to accelerate discoveries. ERIBA is part of the UMCG campus in central Groningen. Both ERIBA and UMCG are home to various state-of-the-art facilities for use in biomedical research.

Qualifications

Requirements

• Master’s degree/diploma in cell biology, molecular biology, biochemistry, or a related field
• Excellent written and oral communication skills in English

Preferred experience

• Cell culture
• Gene silencing (RNAi)
• Protein (immunoblotting) and RNA analysis (RT-qPCR)
• CRISPR-mediated gene-editing
• Confocal microscopy and colocalization analysis
• Mass-spectrometry
• Omics data analysis
• Cell motility/migration assays
• Molecular cloning

Candidates having research experience in the following areas are encouraged to apply and will be viewed preferentially:

• TSC/mTOR signaling
• Lysosome biology
• Golgi biology
• Cellular metabolism
• Cell-cell communication
• Protein secretion
• Membrane trafficking

Our offer

The UMCG offers a salary of € 3.108 gross per month in the first year up to a maximum of € 3.939 gross per month in the fourth year (PRO scale). In addition, the UMCG will offer you 8% holiday pay and 8.3% end-of-year bonus. The conditions of employment comply with the collective labor agreement CAO-UMC. It concerns a full-time appointment (36 hours a week) for a period of four years to be concluded with a PhD examination. After one year, the performance of the candidate will be evaluated to decide whether there is sufficient progress to expect a successful completion of the PhD thesis within the last three years of the project.