Metabolic reprogramming allows cancer cells to rapidly consume nutrients and produce biomass. Targeting this altered metabolism can be a very effective treatment strategy, but development in this area has been limited. Would you like to start your academic career by tackling these challenges? Then join us as a PhD candidate and help broaden our ability to design effective cancer therapeutics.

You will work on a project funded by the Dutch Cancer Society, focused on identifying metabolic vulnerabilities in triple-negative breast cancer. Your research will include both experimental ('wet-lab') and theoretical ('dry-lab') components. You will have the opportunity to design and conduct a range of experiments in 2D and 3D tissue culture using breast cancer cell lines and patient-derived organoids; develop data-driven models of metabolism and other cellular processes; computationally simulate cancer cell behaviour to predict effective therapeutic targets; and validate your predictions through experimentation. You will gain a strong foundation in the molecular and systems biology of triple-negative breast cancer, state-of-the-art omics technologies, and computational approaches to integrate multi-omics 'big data'.

You will be working in an interactive and multidisciplinary environment in the Molecular Developmental Biology group at RIMLS, under the supervision of Dr Rosemary Yu. As part of your PhD training, you will assist in one or two courses a year and supervise BSc and MSc students within the context of your project.
Your teaching load may be up to 10% of your working time.

• You hold a Master's degree in systems biology, computational biology, biomedical sciences, cell biology, or a related field. 
• You are scientifically curious, open-minded, and motivated to work in a multidisciplinary and collaborative research environment.
• You have previous programming experience (e.g. with R, MATLAB, or Python).
• You have previous experience in experimental molecular biology (e.g. cloning, tissue culture, Western blotting), or at least a strong willingness to gain experience in this field.
• You have good interpersonal and communication skills and are fluent in English.

Fixed-term contract: you will be appointed for an initial period of 18 months, after which your performance will be evaluated. If the evaluation is positive, the contract will be extended by 2.5 years (4 year contract) or 3.5 years (5 year contract).

• It concerns an employment for 0.8 (5 year contract) - 1.0 FTE (4 year contract).
• The gross starting salary amounts to €2,541 per month based on a 38-hour working week, and will increase to €3,247 from the fourth year onwards (salary scale P).
• You will receive 8% holiday allowance and 8.3% end-of-year bonus.
• You will be employed for an initial period of 18 months, after which your performance will be evaluated. If the evaluation is positive, the contract will be extended by 2.5 years (4 year contract) or 3.5 years (5 year contract).
• You will be able to use our Dual Career and Family Care Services. Our Dual Career and Family Care Officer can assist you with family-related support, help your partner or spouse prepare for the local labour market, provide customized support in their search for employment and help your family settle in Nijmegen.
• Working for us means getting extra days off. In case of full-time employment, you can choose between 29 or 41 days of annual leave instead of the legally allotted 20.

Work and science require good employment practices. This is reflected in Radboud University's primary and secondary employment conditions. You can make arrangements for the best possible work-life balance with flexible working hours, various leave arrangements and working from home. You are also able to compose part of your employment conditions yourself, for example, exchange income for extra leave days and receive a reimbursement for your sports subscription. And of course, we offer a good pension plan. You are given plenty of room and responsibility to develop your talents and realise your ambitions. Therefore, we provide various training and development schemes.

The Radboud Institute for Molecular Life Sciences (RIMLS) is a leading interfaculty research institute of the faculties of Science (FNWI) and Medicine (Radboud university medical center). The overarching aim of RIMLS is to decipher molecular mechanisms of disease. Research areas of RIMLS-FNWI include epigenetics, stem-cell and developmental biology, and computational biology. The central research theme is regulation of gene expression during development and in health and disease. Important tools used within the institute include next-generation sequencing, mass spectrometry, single-cell (multi-omics) analysis and computational analysis and method development. To perform state-of-the-art research, RIMLS-FNWI operates its own wet-lab and computational facilities. This fundamental and applied research in medical biology and molecular life sciences has clear links to biochemical research performed at the Institute for Molecules and Materials and other institutes of the Faculty of Science as well as to more clinically oriented research programmes at departments within the Radboud university medical center. RIMLS-FNWI actively contributes to teaching activities in the Biology study programme at Radboud University. RIMLS-FNWI currently has about 50 researchers (including 30 PhD candidates and postdoctoral researchers) and provides a vibrant and international working environment. The institute actively participates in various European and worldwide consortia and collaborations.


Radboud University
We want to get the best out of science, others and ourselves. Why? Because this is what the world around us desperately needs. Leading research and education make an indispensable contribution to a healthy, free world with equal opportunities for all. This is what unites the more than 24,000 students and 5,600 employees at Radboud University. And this requires even more talent, collaboration and lifelong learning. You have a part to play!