Would you like to contribute to research in chromatin biology to generate novel insights about its mechanics? As a PhD Candidate, you will investigate the effects of physical forces on nuclei, genomes and transcription. Your work will help us take one step further in the direction of understanding the complexity of nuclear organisation.

The challenge of organising the genome while tightly regulating its function is one of the most important processes in biology. Cells actively sense physical forces from the environment. These forces transmit to the nucleus, where they affect gene expression and cell differentiation. Changes in the mechanobiology of cells can contribute to disease. Our lab focuses on understanding how biophysical mechanisms drive chromatin organisation. In this project, you will use molecular biology and microscopy techniques to connect mechanobiology and chromatin organisation. The aim is to provide new insights into how physical forces affect nuclear morphology, genome organisation and transcriptional activity. This will set the stage for understanding chromatin organisation and gene expression in development, and misregulation in disease. We are looking for a scientist with a fundamental interest in chromatin biology who is open to participating in multidisciplinary research.

You will work as a member of the Cell Biology group at RIMLS-FNWI, under the supervision of Dr Jorine Eeftens, and in close collaboration with other group members. The project will connect the research efforts of the Institute for Molecules and Materials and the Radboud Institute for Molecular Life Sciences. There will be ample opportunities for collaboration between the institutes and with other parties. As part of your PhD training, you will assist in teaching one or two courses per year and supervise BSc and MSc students within the context of your project.

• You hold an MSc degree in molecular biology, molecular life sciences, biochemistry, biophysics, nanobiology, or a related field.
• You are interested in working in an interdisciplinary team.
• You have excellent communication skills 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 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).
• 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.

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, computational biology, and biophysics. The central research theme is regulation of gene expression during development and in health and disease. To perform state-of-the-art research, RIMLS-FNWI operates its own wet lab, microscopes 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 at Radboud University. RIMLS-FNWI currently has about 50 researchers (including 30 PhD candidates and postdoctoral researchers) and provides a vivid and international working environment. The institute actively participates in many European and worldwide consortia and collaborations.

The Institute for Molecules and materials (IMM) is one of the major research institutes of the Faculty of Science at Radboud University. IMM is a research institute in chemistry and physics that fosters interdisciplinarity by crossing traditional boundaries. Our mission is to create, discover, and understand processes and phenomena in atomic and molecular environments. We focus on fundamental research and explore the opportunities for societally relevant applications, thereby educating the next generation of leaders in science and innovation. IMM distinguishes itself from similar institutes by intense collaborations between chemists and physicists and/or experimentalists and theoreticians as well as by our excellent infrastructure, which includes state-of-the-art chemistry and biochemistry labs, the Magnetic Resonance Research Center, the Nanolab, the Laserlab and international user facilities such as the High Field Magnet Laboratory and the Free Electron Laser Laboratory (HFML-FELIX).

The Faculty of Science at Radboud University is a complete, student-oriented science faculty where research and education are closely intertwined. The faculty aims to form an academic community with an international character, where staff members from different backgrounds can combine their talents with the common goal of being among the leading science faculties in Europe.

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!