PeptAIDes

A position for doctoral candidate is available within the frame of the Austrian Science Fund project P36736-B. The project management seeks for a highly motivated gradient student who wants to join the research team of Dr. Roland Hellinger (Junior group leader; Peptidomics and Drug Discovery) from the Center for Physiology and Pharmacology at the Medical University of Vienna.

The research area of the PhD thesis. Today’s drug development research is increasingly interested in bioactive natural peptides as a potential starting point for innovative therapies. Cyclic cystine rich knot peptides are inhibitors of the prolyl oligopeptidase (POP) and have modulatory activity on the protein network. POP is an endopeptidase with high expression in neurons. A pharmacological inhibition was shown to reduce alpha-synuclein oligomerization in vitro as well as in in vivo models. POP modulation increased the clearance of toxic particles via augmented neuronal autophagy. Within the frame of this project, peptidic modulators will be utilized to study alpha-synuclein aggregation and autophagy in cells in a POP dependent mechanism.

The candidate will perform a PhD thesis in the field of chemical and biological peptide science. Natural or synthetic peptides will be prepared for bioactivity testing using various in vitro assays using recombinantly expressed proteins or cellular reporter assays. The candidate will utilize various techniques, e.g. mass spectrometry, flow cytometry, reporter assay, qPCR and molecular cloning, solid phase peptide synthesis, liquid chromatography, protein chemistry and other molecular biology methods.

Requirements. The successful candidate should hold a Master/Diploma’s degree in Biology, Molecular Biology, Biotechnology, Biomedicine or related subjects. Laboratory working experience is of ultimate need to rapidly implement the planned research activities. Ideally, the applicant has experience in one or several of these key technologies: protein chemistry, mass spectrometry and chromatography or peptide chemistry. The applicant will work on a multi-disciplinary project, embedded in a scientific research group and an international research team. The interested applicant must be highly motivated, proactive, self-organized and reliable. Excellent oral as well as written communication skills (English min. level C1; German is not mandatory) are needed.

What we offer. The research group is located at a top-level research institution (Medical University of Vienna). The institution guarantees a high-level scientific environment in which the PhD candidate will develop to an independent scientist. The candidate will work as scientific staff, be enrolled in a thematic PhD program and participates in regular research seminars, journal clubs and other training opportunities. We offer remuneration in accordance with collective bargaining agreement: §48 VwGr. B1 Grundstufe (praedoc) (max. 30h/week) with relevant work experience determining the assignment to a particular salary grade.

Applications are accepted as email message sent to roland.hellinger@meduniwien.ac.at no later than 02^nd November 2023. The letter of interest is accompanied by your curriculum vitae (surename_CV) and an max. 1-page motivation letter (surname_letter). The contact of two referees/supervisors shall be provided as well. Applications will be evaluated on a rolling basis in a three stage procedure until the position is filled.