Do you have a sweet tooth? Are you a medical biologist who wants to improve diagnostics and treatment of blood cancers by studying sugarcoating? Then we are looking for you!

Blood cancers arise due to increased proliferation of blood progenitor cells in the bone marrow. This increased proliferation can be caused by sugarcoating, so called glycosylation, on the surface of cancer cells. Strong preliminary data suggest that glycosylation is essential and a potential therapeutic target for the chronic blood cancer myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN) (Jutzi and Marneth et al., 2022). This disease is driven by overactivation of thrombopoietin receptor MPL.

Using mass spectrometry, you will generate a full picture of glycosylation on MPL. Moreover, you will generate glycosylation gene knockouts using CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing in induced pluripotent stem cells, followed by hematopoietic proliferation and differentiation, with the aim of increasing our molecular understanding of MPN pathogenesis and the development of much-needed therapies. You will work in the Laboratory of Hematology and collaborate closely with the Radboud Consortium for Glycoscience and international research groups.

You will plan and perform experiments in the lab, perform bio-informatic analyses, write scientific articles, present at work meetings and conferences, and supervise students. You will work closely with a technician and other PhD candidates in the lab, and you attend weekly lab meetings. At the end of your PhD, you write a PhD thesis, which you will defend in an oral exam/celebration.

You will likely encounter the following techniques during your PhD:

• Culturing blood cells and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs).
• Cloning DNA plasmids, transformation of bacteria.
• Transfections, transductions, CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing of blood cells and iPSCs.
• (q)RT-PCRs.
• Flow cytometry.
• Western blotting.
• Sanger sequencing
• Mass spectrometry, RNA-sequencing and bio-informatic analyses.
• Possibly mouse work.

For this position, we prefer candidates with an MSc. in Molecular Life Sciences, Biomedical Sciences, or a related field. The ideal candidate is able to plan and carry out highly complex experiments independently. We are looking for a team player who can collaborate effectively with colleagues.

Fluency in spoken and written English is required for this position. You should be open to the possibility of working with animals in their research. Experience in hematology, glycoscience, and/or mass spectrometry is preferred.

Fixed-term contract: 4 years.

Working at Radboud university medical center means that you are ahead of the curve and working together on the healthcare of the future. And there is more. Our secondary terms of employment are impressive. These are fully tailored to you thanks to our Employment Conditions Selection Model. At Radboud university medical center, you will be given trust, and you will take the responsibility to handle everything together. We provide annual courses, both professional and personal.

• A gross monthly salary between € 2.789 and € 3.536 (scale 10A) based on full-time employment. 
• From 1 November 2023 the wages will increase by 4%.
• An annual vacation allowance of 8% and an end-of-year bonus of 8.3%.
• If you work irregular hours, you will receive an allowance.
• As a full-time employee (36 hours per week), you are entitled to approximately 168 vacation hours (over 23 days) per year.
• Radboud university medical center pays 70% of the pension premium. You pay the rest of the premium with your gross salary.
• You get a discount on health insurance as well: you can take advantage of two group health insurance plans. UMC Zorgverzekering and CZ collectief.

  In addition to our terms of employment, we also offer employees various other attractive facilities, such as childcare and sports facilities. Want to learn more? Take a look at the Cao UMC.

Radboudumc

The Laboratory of Hematology within the department of Laboratory Medicine Radboudumc, consists of multiple research groups and a large diagnostic laboratory in which both blood cancers as well as bleeding disorders are being studied. You will develop a personal training program together with your group leader, tailered to your needs and wishes. You will work closely with other PhD candidates, Bsc./Msc. students, technicians, and post-docs of the Laboratory of Hematoology. Additionally, clinical hematologists are located on the same floor and join work discussions for clinical input and translation to the clinic.

Since you will study glycosylation, you will also closely collaborate with the Radboud Consortium for Glycoscience, for example for mass spectrometry measurements and analyses. Moreover, you will collaborate with national and international partners in hematology and glycoscience.

Radboudumc
Radboud university medical center is a university medical center for patient care, scientific research, and education in Nijmegen. Radboud university medical center strives to be at the forefront of shaping the healthcare of the future. We do this in a person-centered and innovative way, and in close collaboration with our network. We want to have a significant impact on health and healthcare. We want to improve with each passing day, continuously working towards better healthcare, research, and education. And gaining a better understanding of how diseases arise and how we can prevent, treat, and cure them, day in and day out. This way, every patient always receives the best healthcare, now and in the future. Because that is why we do what we do.

Read more about our strategy and what working at Radboud university medical center means. Our colleagues would be happy to tell you about it. #weareradboudumc