Our DNA is an intricate database holding all information essential to life. Although often correct, small errors can lead to (severe) genetic disorders. A promising strategy to cure these diseases is to rewrite the genetic database. In principle, this can be achieved by delivering therapeutic nucleic acids. To facilitate delivery, the nucleic acid cargo is packaged in nanoparticles. Despite the hypothesised potential, these particles typically only deliver a fraction of their cargo. Evidently, this is unacceptable for clinical translation and major improvements are needed.
Your job Fueled by a recently awarded ERC Starting Grant (POLYPATH) our team works on developing novel fabrication routes for polyplexes based on polymerisation-induced electrostatic self-assembly (PIESA). PIESA offers a synthetic tool to manipulate the polyplex assembly process.
Your role will be to fundamentally understand how PIESA impacts the polyplex properties and how we can design assembly pathways that will lead to polyplexes with optimised pharmaceutical potential. To get to these insights, you will use advanced analytical techniques, including (time-resolved) small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and NMR relaxometry. Combing this set of challenging techniques, will paint a detailed picture on the encapsulation of nucleic acids by forming polymers from molecular to colloidal length scales.
This project will be a collaborative effort with the '
Self Organizing Soft Matter' group of
Professor Ilja Voets at the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) and
Dr. Camilla Terenzi and the
Biophysics Department of Wageningen University & Research (WUR).
The interdisciplinary nature, large collaborative network and societal relevant research direction make this PhD position the ideal opportunity for you to develop into an independent and versatile researcher. Additionally, you will have the chance to contribute to educating the next generation of (pharmaceutical) scientists through active involvement in the educational programmes of Utrecht University.