A PhD position in pain research available in collaboration with Karolinska Institutet

We are looking for a new colleague for an open position as PhD fellow in the EU-funded Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Europe MSCA Doctoral Network “BonePainIII”. We are seeking a driven PhD student with previous experience from the pharmaceutical or biotech industry and a passion for in vitro models. The successful candidate will be given an exciting opportunity to develop innovative in vitro concepts and assays that eventually may lead to finding new mechanisms and drugs for the millions of people suffering from chronic pain conditions.

Cellectricon will collaborate with Karolinska Institutet to offer this 4-year PhD fellowship aimed to develop novel, humanized in vitro methods and assays.

About BonePainIII:
Identifying mechanisms and novel treatments of bone pain – closing the gap to the clinic

BonePainIII is a European Doctoral Network dedicated to promote frontline research, innovation and education within bone pain. Millions in Europe and beyond suffer from bone pain, which is a debilitating complication of many musculoskeletal disorders such as arthritis and cancer in the skeleton. The BonePainIII network has participants from six European countries and encompasses six academic groups and five industry partners, all of which are committed to creating an outstanding training program for doctoral candidates to elucidate the mechanisms of bone pain and develop new medicines.

In BonePainIII, you will be part of an international network with supervision, mentorship and research secondments within the network.

PhD project description:
Development of novel, human in vitro models for the study of pain associated with rheumatoid arthritis

In the proposed PhD project, the major goal is to develop and validate state-of-the-art, humanized in vitro models to enable identification of novel mechanisms and treatments for bone-related disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Since RA is associated with neuroinflammation and RA may have both peripheral and central origin, the student will aim to establish both peripheral and central in vitro models consisting of co-cultures of neurons, bone cells and glial cells.

The specific objectives are to:

1. Develop and validate plate-based co-culture systems between human neurons and non-neuronal cells.
2. Develop and evaluate readouts for assessing neuronal and glial cell function in the established peripheral and central co-culture systems.
3. Investigate how inflammatory insults and glial and bone cells modulate the neuronal and glial cell response, and how this can be manipulated pharmacologically.

About Cellectricon:
Cellectricon is a services provider dedicated to advancing drug discovery and research in neuroscience. We have established service modules in the areas of Neuroinflammation, Peripheral Neuropathies, Neurodegeneration and Neuroplasticity. Our mission is to create groundbreaking in vitro concepts that will advance the neuroscience research field and enable our Clients to conduct successful drug discovery programs. We are a team of highly experienced neurobiologists, stem cell researchers and engineers with a proven track record of delivering successful projects to our Clients. We always aim for long-term partnerships with our Clients, based on mutual trust and commitment.

Our unique discovery platform combines drug discovery expertise and disease area knowledge with cutting-edge technologies. With the platform, we are creating complex disease models and assays for functional and morphological screening. Through our services, we can accelerate our Clients’ target and lead discovery programs.

The position:
Full time position, four years. The first 36 months are funded by the European Union’s Marie Skłodowska-Curie Doctoral Network under the grant agreement No. 101120524.
The candidate will be employed by, and working at, Cellectricon, Mölndal, Sweden, full-time. The successful candidate will be registered as a PhD student at the Karolinska Institutet (KI), Stockholm, Sweden. Professor Camilla I Svensson, KI, will serve as main supervisor and Paul Karila, Cellectricon, will serve as main contact and co-supervisor.

Key criteria for the assessment of applicants:

• Applicants must have qualifications corresponding to a master’s degree related to the subject area of the project (at the time of employment; e.g. biomedicine, biotechnology, biomedical engineering, natural sciences or pharmacy).
• Applicants will also be required to meet the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Doctoral Networks eligibility criterion; the Mobility Rule: Researchers must not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in Sweden for more than 12 months in the 36 months immediately before their date of recruitment. Compulsory national service, short stays such as holidays, and time spent as part of a procedure for obtaining refugee status under the Geneva Convention are not taken into account.

Please note that you will only be considered for the position if you fulfill the mobility rule.

Other important criteria for the assessment of applicants are:

• Professional qualifications relevant to the PhD project
• Previous publications
• Relevant work experience (e.g. previous experience from the pharmaceutical industry and with in vitro models)
• Other professional activities
• The grades achieved during bachelor/master studies
• The candidate is expected to be highly motivated, to have good verbal and written English skills and excellent interpersonal and cooperation skills to be able to work on collaborative, challenging research projects that ultimately have commercial utility. Further, it is desirable that the candidate has a strong interest in neurobiology/neuroscience and has previous experience from cell culturing and primary cell-based assays. Also, experience from assay development and high throughput screening activities is desired.
• Assessment of the candidate’s motivation letter

Terms of employment:
The terms of employment and salary are in accordance with the local and national rules and in accordance with the rules and regulations laid down by the European Union’s Marie Sklodowska-Curie Action European Training Network. Exact salary will be confirmed upon appointment.

How to apply:

UPDATE: The application period has now ended. Submitted applications will be reviewed and the successful candidates contacted for interviews.

For further information and to submit your application, please contact Paul Karila. The application should be written in English and submitted in Word or PDF format to:

Paul Karila, PhD
Chief Business Officer, Cellectricon AB
Email: paul.karila@cellectricon.com

The application should consists of:

• Cover letter: Letter stating the interest in and qualifications for the project including information about previous experience of industrial research (max. one page).
• Full CV.
• List of publications (if any).
• Diploma and transcripts of records: Master´s degree diploma (including grade transcripts for bachelor´s and master´s degrees). Applicants with a Master´s degree from abroad should also enclose a short description of the grading scale used.
• Two letters of recommendation including contact details for references.
• For those applicants whose principal language of instruction during their BSc/MSc was not English it will be an advantage if they enclose IELTS or TOEFL test scores or equivalent proof of English skills.

Deadline for applications:
June 30th, 2024.
Applications will be evaluated by an assessment committee. Short-listed candidates will be invited for an interview (e.g. via Teams).

Expected starting date:
October 1st, 2024 or earlier.

To learn more about the BonePainIII network and partners visit:
www.bonepain.eu