Position Title

Novel nanoformulations for oral delivery of nanovesicles by employing low emission green manufacturing technologies.

Job Description

The advertised doctoral position will be carried out at NANOMOL Technologies SL over a period of 36 months. The recruited researcher will be supervised by Dr. Lidia Ferrer-Tasies and work in the Research and Development department, led by Dr. Lidia Ferrer-Tasies. The doctoral candidate will be registered for the PhD programme at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain, and will be co-supervised by Dr. Elisabet González from Institute of Material Science of Barcelona (ICMAB) of Agencia Estatal Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas (CSIC).

NANOMOL Technologies is a Spanish SME delivering advanced solutions to obtain high-added-value products by particle technologies and nanoformulations. NANOMOL Technologies has already an operative contract analysis unit which is fully GMP compliant for the particle characterization of APIs and has already consolidated deep knowledge and understanding on particle size and shape analysis, complemented by a vast experience to characterize APIs, pharmaceutical intermediates and final formulations. Besides, Nanomol develops its proprietary robust green and sustainable DELOS platform, that uses compressed CO₂ as solvent, for design, engineering and production of nano-pharmaceuticals, being experienced in formulation development and scale-up to pilot plant using QbD approaches for several kinds of APIs (small molecules to biologics) for different therapeutic applications through several administration routes.

In this regard, the specific project will focus on preparation of liquid formulations for oral delivery based on lipid DELOS nanovesicles integrating active compounds. Process parameters will be explored to enhance the encapsulation of these compounds in DELOS nanovesicles. The influence of operational parameters and critical material attributes on CQAs will be evaluated following a QbD strategy. In vitro studies will be evaluated to study the suitability of DELOS nanovesicles prototypes for oral administration.

The main working tasks of the advertised position are:

(1) Established green drug delivery system manufacturing protocols by DELOS,

(2) Determination of interdependency of CQAs and process parameters,

(3) Encapsulation of actives to protect from degradation, improve its solubility, bioavailability and stability for oral delivery.

In the frame of the research project, short term (secondment) visits at other partners’ premises are envisioned. As per call requirements, candidate will spend at least half of the total contract time in a non-academic environment.

Contract and salary

This doctoral position DC5 is fully funded by the Marie Skłodowska Curie Action Industrial Doctorate GreenX3 (HORIZON-MSCA-2022-DN-01-01). The monthly gross salary will comprise a living allowance, mobility allowance and if applicable a family allowance.

This is approximately rounded at € 35 000.00 - 40 000.00 (gross salary, including compulsory deductions under national law, such as employer and employee social security contributions and direct taxes) per annum (living and mobility allowance). Family allowance will be implemented if the doctoral candidate has or acquires family obligations (i.e. marriage or relationship with equivalent status to a marriage recognised by the legislation of the country or region where this relationship was formalised or dependent children who are actually being maintained by the researcher) during the action duration. The provided amount is not conclusive, and a country correction coefficient applies to the living allowance in order to ensure equal treatment and purchasing power parity for all researchers and will be defined prior the recruitment starting.

The candidate will be employed by a single, three years’ employment contract offering social security, holiday rights, parental leave rights, pension provision, healthcare insurance and accident coverage at work. Researchers must be enrolled in a doctoral programme leading to the award of a doctoral degree in at least one EU Member State or Horizon Europe Associated Country.

For more info on MSCA-DN-ID visit the website https://marie-sklodowska-curie-actions.ec.europa.eu/actions/doctoral-networks.

The recruited candidate will work as part of an international, interdisciplinary and young team accounting for 10 doctoral candidates and 3 doctoral network students located at different universities and companies in Germany, Spain, Italy, France and United Kingdom.

The recruited candidate will attend yearly summer school and international meetings and secondments whilst receiving training on research and transferrable skills. The recruited candidate is expected to finish the project with a PhD thesis and to disseminate the results through open access publications in peer-reviewed journals, patents (when applicable) and presentation and poster at national and international conferences.

Background Information

MSCA-DN-ID are industrial doctorate programmes funded by the European Union. Positions in the frame of these programmes are offered to European and non-European doctoral candidates to implement individual projects in a European country other than their own. All doctoral networks have the objective in promoting international, inter-sectoral and multidisciplinary collaboration in doctoral-level training in Europe. Additionally, industrial doctorate requires the mandatory involvement of the non-academic sector in the doctoral training and the candidate will spend 50% of working time in the non-academic sector.

The GreenX3 project will create an interdisciplinary and intersectoral network to train 10 doctoral candidates and 3 doctoral network students for a period of 36 months. Their training will be supported by 16 Parties comprising a network of 7 industries and 9 academic partners from Spain, Germany, United Kingdom, France and Italy, offering altogether a rich, multidisciplinary and intersectoral environment for the training of the successful candidates.

GreenX3 will focus on the study of greener materials and their environmental impact, the development of novel environment-friendly industrial processes, and key enabling technologies (KETs) designed to enhance resource management and product quality. The joint presence and intertwined connection among academic and non-academic partners with expertise comprising and not limited to materials/polymer chemistry, nanotechnology, pharmacy and pharmaceutical technology, entrepreneurship, sustainability and product development will provide an outstanding environment to train the next generation of researchers with strong focus on sustainable development, responsible production and waste reduction.