PhD Position: Glycan Recognition in the Intestinal Immune System

Do you want to find out how complex sugar molecules can regulate immune tolerance in the gut and are linked to inflammatory bowel diseases? Do you enjoy working in a multidisciplinary research team? Then join the Biomolecular Chemistry Department as a PhD candidate to study glycan interactions with the intestinal immune system.

The human intestine produces mucins, large proteins that carry repetitive sequences of complex sugar molecules called glycans. Mucin glycans form diverse molecular patterns, reminiscent of molecular barcodes. These glycan barcodes contain biological information that can be interpreted by glycan-binding proteins, ‘barcode scanners’, found on innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) that are highly important for a balanced intestinal immune system. How the molecular barcodes embedded in mucin glycans help maintaining a healthy immune system and how changes in the sugar pattern may lead to inflammation and inflammatory bowel diseases is unknown.

This project funded by the Dutch Research Council (NWO) is a collaboration between biochemists from Radboud University and immunologists from the Amsterdam University Medical Center (AMC). We will biosynthesise different glycan barcodes and investigate how they are ‘scanned’ by ILCs and other immune cells and what effects they have on immune cell function. Furthermore, we will study if the glycan barcodes are changed in chronic inflammatory bowel diseases and explore their potential to mitigate inflammation. As the biomolecular chemistry PhD candidate in this project, you will produce recombinant glycoproteins and perform binding screens using an innovative CRISPR-based platform. You will analyse the mucin glycan pattern in healthy and inflamed tissue and explore the potential of a 'healthy' mucin glycan pattern for restoring immune homeostasis in ILCs. This will be a close collaboration with the AMC group with frequent exchanges and training opportunities.

You will communicate your findings at national and international meetings and through publications in peer-reviewed journals. You will be expected to contribute 10% of your working time to the training and teaching of BSc and MSc students from the Molecular Sciences programmes. All PhD candidates at the Institute for Molecules and Materials (IMM) participate in the IMM Graduate School and have the opportunity to receive training, develop their personal and professional skills, and prepare for their future careers.

Would you like to learn more about what it is like to pursue a PhD at Radboud University? Visit the page about working as a PhD candidate.

• We will give you a temporary employment contract (1.0 FTE) of 1.5 years, after which your performance will be evaluated. If the evaluation is positive, your contract will be extended by 2.5 years (4-year contract).
• You will receive a starting salary of €2,901 gross per month based on a 38-hour working week, which will increase to €3,707 in the fourth year (salary scale P).
• You will receive an 8% holiday allowance and an 8,3% end-of-year bonus.
• We offer Dual Career Coaching. The Dual Career Coaching assists your partner via support, tools, and resources to improve their chances of independently finding employment in the Netherlands.
• You will receive extra days off. With full-time employment, you can choose between 30 or 41 days of annual leave instead of the statutory 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 project will be carried out in the Glycoengineering group led by Christian Büll, which is focused on uncovering the cellular biosynthesis and biological interactions of glycans. Based on these insights, we engineer glycoproteins for diagnostic and therapeutic applications in the immune system and the microbiome. The group is embedded in the Department of Biomolecular Chemistry of IMM and located at the Faculty of Science (FNWI).

The Department of Biomolecular Chemistry is specialised in research into post-translational modifications including glycosylation in the context of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. The department also studies the molecular mechanisms underlying the loss of immunological self-tolerance. Our multidisciplinary team works in a recently renovated laboratory with facilities for mammalian and bacterial cell culture and state-of-the-art equipment for recombinant protein production and analysis, fluorescence microscopy, cell- and plate-based assays, and the development and validation of diagnostic tests.

The Institute for Molecules and Materials (IMM) is a research institute in chemistry and physics that promotes interdisciplinary research. Its mission is to understand processes at the molecular level and to apply this fundamental knowledge to create functional molecules and materials that can solve problems in society. IMM consists of 24 research groups active in fields ranging from condensed matter physics to organic chemistry and biochemistry. You will have the opportunity to interact with researchers at IMM and participate in institute-wide activities and the graduate school.