We offer a 4-year PhD position in the department of Cell and Chemical Biology in the LUMC, Leiden, the Netherlands. The position is associated to a Young Investigator Grant awarded by the Dutch Cancer Society (KWF-Kankerbestrijding) to Dr. Román González Prieto. You will be working on the identification of ubiquitination targets which play a role in the DNA Damage Response and in Cancer progression. For this, you will use the TULIP methodology (Kumar et al., 2017), and other molecular biology and mass spectrometry-based proteomics approaches. By joining us, you will be part of a newly emerging research team.

Our ideal candidate has obtained an MSc degree in Biomedical Sciences, Biology, Biochemistry, or similar. You also have a strong background in molecular biology. Experience in the DNA Damage Response or Ubiquitin fields is an advantage. You are highly motivated, enthusiastic, creative, skilled and result-driven. Finally, you have excellent written and oral communication skills in English language.

Fixed-term contract: maximum of four years.

You will be employed on the basis of a 36-hour week. Appointment is for a maximum of four years, to be completed with a doctoral thesis. Your salary  is € 2,279 gross per month in the first year, progressing to € 2,919 gross per month in the fourth year based on a full-time position (scale PhD students of the Collective Labor Agreement for University Hospitals).

The terms of employment offered by the LUMC are highly favorable. For example, you will receive 8% holiday remuneration, a year-end bonus, and a pension arrangement with the National Civil Pension Fund. Also, as employee of one of the University Hospitals in the Netherlands, you can benefit from our collective health insurance policy.

Moreover, the LUMC offers excellent facilities in the area of education, child-care center, and career advice.

Cell and Chemical Biology

The LUMC is a center for medical innovation that aims to improve patient care through leading international research. So as to also provide our patients with a safe and friendly environment, we need doctors, medical care specialists, support staff and academic researchers.

Within the department of Cell and Chemical Biology, a team of professionals investigates functional regulation of proteins by post-translational modifications including SUMOylation, ubiquitylation and phosphorylation. This enables us to improve our knowledge about fundamental processes of life at the molecular level and to improve our knowledge about disease-linked de-regulation of these processes. Local collaborators include Alfred Vertegaal, Huib Ovaa, Jacques Neefjes and Peter ten Dijke in the ubiquitin field and Haico van Attikum, Martijn Luijsterburg and Marcel Tijsterman in the DNA Damage Repair field.