As the successful candidate for this PhD fellowship, you will be participating in BonePainII (www.bonepain.eu), a European Innovative Training Network promoting frontline research, innovation and education in the field of bone pain. Bone pain is a debilitating complication of many musculoskeletal disorders such as arthritis and bone metastasis suffered by millions in Europe and beyond. Your key tasks in this role will be to manage and carry out your research project, participate in BonePainII training and network activities, take PhD courses, write scientific articles and your PhD thesis, participate in national and international congresses and scientific meetings, undertake a research stay at an external research laboratory in the BonePainII network, and disseminate your research. We have two positions available.

PhD project 1: Mitochondrial regulation of bone pain. Your main goal will be to better understand the regulation of bone pain induced by cancer and/or osteoarthritis by exploring the changes and functional role of mitochondrial-specific functions in sensory neurons and osteoclasts that are linked to bone pain.

PhD project 2: Targeting complement to stop osteoarthritis induced bone pain. Your main goal will be to identify the mechanisms causing osteoarthritis-induced bone pain by investigating how neuroimmune interactions lead to persisting OA pain. There will be a particular focus on how complement components affect neuronal functioning, and bone and cartilage biology in the context of OA.

In both projects you will be using animal models and performing behavioral tests combined with molecular and biochemical assays. Expected start date is June 2019.

You are a highly-motivated, excellent candidate with an MSc degree in biomedical sciences and an interest in immunology and neuroscience. You have also undertaken pre-clinical studies involving in vivo animal research, including behavioral paradigms as well as molecular and biochemical techniques. You are flexible, enjoy the challenge of tackling novel scientific concepts, and like working in an interdisciplinary team. You preferably have experience in animal research and/or a Masters in immunology/neuroscience. Experience with bone cancer or osteoarthritis pain research will be an advantage. Fluency in English is required, and there are strict mobility and eligibility criteria. You must not have resided or carried out your main activity (work, studies, etc.) in the Netherlands for more than twelve months in the last three years immediately prior to your recruitment, unless as part of a procedure for obtaining refugee status under the Geneva Convention. You must be an Early-Stage Researcher (ESR); at the date of recruitment you must be in the first four years (full-time equivalent research experience) of your research career and must not have not been awarded a doctoral degree.

Fixed-term contract: temporary appointment for 3-4 years.

For this 100% post, the maximum salary will be € 3,020.00. This will be a temporary appointment for 3-4 years. Salary will be in accordance to the rules and regulations laid down by the European Union’s Horizon2020 Marie Sklodowska-Curie Action European Training Network. Exact salary will be confirmed upon appointment.

University Medical Centre Utrecht

With over 1,100 beds and more than 11,000 employees, the University Medical Center Utrecht is one of the largest academic health care centers in the Netherlands. Our aim is to improve. Our patients’ health, but also our students and employees. Whether you are a doctor or a business economist, a researcher or a SAP-specialist: working with us means having a job that matters, access to the best facilities and the opportunity to grow as a professional and contribute towards innovative health care.

Scientific research at the UMC Utrecht is rooted in the world around us. We listen to people; the wishes and needs of patients come first. Together with our national and international partners, we invest in innovation and research in order to ensure that our care remains of the highest quality. Focus is pivotal in this, which is why we have concentrated our research in six programs:

• Brain
• Infection & Immunity
• Circulatory Health
• Personalized Cancer Care
• RM & Stem Cells
• Child Health

http://www.werkenbijumcutrecht.nl/

Laboratory of Translational Immunology

You will be working in the neuroimmunology pain group run by Niels Eijkelkamp, which is part of the Laboratory of Translational Immunology at the University Medical Center (UMC) Utrecht, the Netherlands. You will be part of a team made up of PhD students, post-docs and research technicians who are actively collaborating on projects to better understand chronic pain and develop novel therapeutic strategies to kill pain. The BonePainII network has participants from six European countries and encompasses eight academic groups and four industries all committed to elucidating the mechanisms of bone pain and developing new medicines (www.bonepain.eu).