Doctoral candidate / Research Fellow affiliated with the project “Imaging Ageing Endothelium at the nanoscale” (ImAgE-D) funded by the EU Horizon Europe Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) program “Doctoral Networks”

I. About:

  Institute of Nuclear Physics Polish Academy of Sciences (IFJ PAN)

The IFJ PAN is a governmental research institute established in 1955. The Institute has the highest rank: A+.  The staff of the Institute consists of over 550 employees, including 33 full professors, 82 associate professors, 104 PhD associates, and a team of over 120 highly qualified engineers and technicians. The Scientific Council of the Institute is authorized to confer doctoral and postdoctoral degrees in physical sciences. Currently, over 70 PhD students are enrolled in PhD Studies. For more information:

https://www.ifj.edu.pl/en/index.php

   Department of Biophysical Microstructures (DBM)

The Department of Biophysical Microstructures (DBM) of the IFJ PAN associates researchers dedicated to the measurement of biophysical properties of biological samples. The group focuses on how living cells and tissues experience mechanical forces in their physiological environment. Biomechanics changes in organ pathology and affects many cellular processes. DBM brings together specialists in atomic force microscopy (AFM) conducting nanomechanical and rheological measurements in liquid, in physiologically relevant conditions at both, the single cell level and molecular level. This provides the basis for a unique expertise in interdisciplinarity research and innovation in biomechanics. Our goal is to find solutions to future challenges in cell mechanics and cell biology. DBM has a broad international network; we work to find applications of our basic research activity in nanomechnics by ensuring collaborations with researchers in biology, clinical medicine and physics in Poland and abroad. Our projects are currently funded by EU-MSCA, European Innovation Council (EIC), GRIEG – Polish-Norwegian research projects, Polish National Science Centre, in addition to support from IFJ PAN. DBM will participate in ImAge-D activities focused on experimental aspects of AFM-based measurements, sample preparation protocols developed towards the use of nanomechanics in clinical practice.  DBM employs a staff of 1 full professor, 2 researchers, 3 post-docs, 4 PhD students and 1 technician. For more information about us: https://www.ifj.edu.pl/oddzialy/no5/nz55/en/home/.

   ImAge-D

The ImAge-D consortium brings together expert groups from the Norway, Germany, Belgium, Sweden, Poland, Portugal, France and Australia that aim to understand the key changes that arise during ageing and its associated loss of function in the vascular and lymphatic endothelium of different organ vessel beds.

The endothelium is ubiquitous throughout the body lining all blood / lymph vessels of all organs and age-related loss of its function will inevitably affect organ physiology, which led to the “vascular theory of ageing”. Circulating blood interacts with the vascular endothelium of all vessel beds and the “transcriptomic” age of blood correlates better than chronological age with risk factors for cardiometabolic disease and death including cholesterol levels, body mass index, blood pressure and fasting glucose. This would suggest that the interactions of blood and ultimately lymph with the endothelium, and vice versa, dictate ageing, and at the very least would act as very useful “canary in the coal mine”. There is also an age-related decline in the hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) niche in the bone marrow, the body’s blood cell “factory”. HSC niches are – necessarily – closely associated with bone marrow endothelium. Trillions of nascent blood cells enter the circulation daily via this vascular bed, and in ageing the bone marrow microcirculation deteriorates, a process that can be mimicked by surgical denervation in the bone marrow of young mice. The ubiquitous endothelium thus represents a potential novel diagnostic / therapeutic target for the reversal of age-related disorders at multiple levels in multiple organs - improvements to endothelial health will likely improve the systemic health of the elderly. By way of explanation, recent findings suggest that age-related effects on liver sinusoidal endothelium can likely be reversed. While many of that has been shown using older electron microscopic imaging methods, newer optical based methods are rapidly enhancing our ability to study liver endothelium, and ImAge-D will extend the use of these methods to study other endothelial beds than liver.

This project will thus enable a new generation of scientists to explore these new dimensions in endothelium using new optical methods, and place the human (lymph-)endothelium in a central role in modern medicine. Our ambitious goal is that young scientists in this consortium will gain skills and expertise to understand the endothelium at entirely new and unexpected levels. This entails how endothelial behaviour changes with disease / ageing, and how to reverse such degenerative changes by developing drugs / therapies that target ECs in e.g. Alzheimer’s Disease, age-related diseases, vascular diseases and infectious diseases.

This is one of ten PhD positions that are offered in ImAge-D.

ImAgE-D will train a new generation of Doctoral Candidates (DCs) in the development and application of newly developed high speed and high-resolution imaging tools in biomedical research. The ten DCs will be cross-pollinated with concepts and skills in physics and biomedicine, in particular in super-resolution imaging, analytical image reconstruction, and spatial transcriptomics methods. These skills will be applied to reveal for the first time the functionality and morphology (below the diffraction limit of light) of living endothelial cells (EC) that present the main barrier between the blood / lymph and all organs and tissues, and how these vital cells change with ageing. We will employ 10 researchers to address these scientific challenges by performing research in academic and industrial groups, and by doing so receive exhaustive training across relevant disciplines and sectors.

II. Position

At the IFJ PAN, Department of Biophysical Microstructures 1 position has become available for the role of Research Fellow, for applicants wishing to take a Philosophiae Doctor (PhD) degree in physical sciences (discipline biophysics). The position is affiliated with the IFJ PAN.

The position is available for commencement from 01.03.24 and is for a period of 36 months.

The Research Fellowship is a position comprising of research training towards a doctorate degree, which is the objective. Acceptance into the doctorate degree program is a prerequisite for appointment to this position, and the study period will begin upon commencement of employment. The Research Fellow will participate in the faculty’s research training, and the doctorate degree project will be carried out over the course of the period of employment. In addition to the faculty’s compulsory courses, the Research Fellow is required to participate in Doctoral Network (DN) specific courses and training programs. Information on the application process for admissions to the PhD program and on PhD regulations can be found here.

The contact person for this position is dr hab. Bartlomiej Zapotoczny,
email: bartlomiej.zapotoczny@ifj.edu.pl, phone: +48 12 662 8196, linkedin.com/in/zapotoczny

Responsibilities

Research

The successful applicant will work on the research topic:  “High-resolution, correlative imaging of endothelial cells in the niche” in the project entitled “Imaging Ageing Endothelium at the nanoscale - Doctorates” (ImAgE-D), funded by the EU-MSCA Doctoral Network Program. The project has particular emphasis placed upon the application of high-resolution microscopy methods that enable functional and kinetic studies of the morphology of brain, bone-marrow and liver endothelial cells (ECs) in vitro and in situ. Because the size of many relevant features – e.g. cellular fenestrations (holes through the cells of 50-200 nm) in liver sinusoidal ECs (LSECs) - is well below the spatial resolution of conventional optical microscopes, they have so far mostly escaped our ability to directly follow their dynamic transport processes in vitro and in vivo. At IFJ PAN a unique method based on atomic force microscopy (AFM) is established allowing for real-time measurements of living cells with nano resolution. Thanks to a close collaboration with UiT and UniBie, we have access to new optical tools available that can overcome the fundamental limit of spatial resolution in optics, the diffraction limit. In addition, AFM can provide a biomechanical aspect to age-related and disease-related changes in the endothelium. Specific objectives of this proposal are: (A) to use highly resolving AFM methods and correlative AFM/SIM that enable the direct and dynamic visualization of cellular fenestrations in LSEC; (B) to study the interaction of drugs with LSECs morphology and biomechanics and to determine their effects on fenestrations; (C) study the role of age and gender in these processes.

Required qualifications

In order to be appointed to the role of Research Fellow, the eligibility requirements for the faculty’s PhD program must be met, according to section 6, Regulations for the Degree of Philosophiae Doctor (PhD) at the Krakow School of Interdisciplinary PhD Studies (KISD), with additional provisions concerning the IFJ PAN, including the qualification exam in physics (information about the exam for IFJ PAN).

A requirement of the position is the completion of the equivalent of a relevant Master’s degree (120 ECTS points). Candidates can be of any nationality. However, the candidate is required to undertake transnational mobility i.e. move from one country to another, when appointed. There are 4 secondments planned lasting for 6 months. This is a requirement of the MSCA DN program, which is funding this position. In the case of Polish nationals, or persons who have previously resided in Poland, these can be eligible for this position provided they have resided or carried out their main activity outside of Poland for more than 24 months in the 3 years immediately prior to recruitment.

Applicants shall, at the time of recruitment at IFJ PAN, be within the first four years (full-time equivalent research experience) of their research careers and have not been awarded a doctoral degree. Full-time equivalent research experience is measured from the date when the applicant obtained the degree entitling her/him to embark on a doctorate, (either in the country in which the degree was obtained or in the country in which the researcher is recruited) even if a doctorate was never started or envisaged.

Applicants must have a documented knowledge of English which meets the requirements as stated in the KISD admission requirements.

We are looking for a motivated person with biophysics/microscopy/cell biology background at M.Sc. level. The project involves AFM measurements of living and fixed cells, culture of primary rodent liver cells and the use/development of methods (AFM, optical microscopy, microrheology) to study these. The project will also involve the study of other cell types. Documented experience in the use of basal cell biology methods and microscopy will be an advantage.

Importance shall be attached to personal suitability for the position and motivation.

We can offer

• An interesting research project
• A good research environment with dedicated colleagues
• Good career opportunities
• A large degree of independence in work
• Flexible working hours and a state collective pay agreement
• Pension scheme through the state pension fund

Working and payment conditions

The PhD studies normally equate to four years’ research. However, the founding is for 3 years. Founding of the fourth year from other founding sources is possible.

Shorter periods of employment may be offered if the Research Fellow has already completed parts of the research training program, or in the event that the employment builds upon a previous appointment in an educational position (Research Fellow, Research Assistant or similar), so that the total time of research training comes to three years.

The remuneration for Research Fellows is in accordance with the MSCA regulation for doctoral candidates. The salary include ~2,400 EUR living allowance + 600 EUR ravel allowance + 500 EUR family allowance (if appliable) per month.

The Institute does not provide accommodation.

III. Selection process

a. Initial assessment.

We encourage the interested candidates to contact dr hab.Bartlomiej Zapotoczny prior to application,  email: bartlomiej.zapotoczny@ifj.edu.pl

Please include the following documents:

• Letter of motivation/research statement (2-3 pages). This should include a description of past work, but also a vision on how you see yourself fit in the consortium and the position you are applying for.
• Curriculum vitae (CV)
• Contact information for 2-3 references

b. All applications shall be sent to KISD (here).

Applications sent to KISD from 02.01.2024 r. do 08.01.2024 r. shall include:

• cover letter including a short description of interests and reasons for applying for the position
• project description, where relevant
• CV containing a complete overview of education, experience, professional work, pedagogical qualifications (if any) and references
• diplomas and certificates:
  • diploma and transcript of Bachelor’s degree or equivalent (in original language and translated)
  • diploma and transcript of Master’s degree or equivalent (in original language and translated)
• documentation of proficiency in English
• any academic works, including the Master’s thesis
• signed RODO clause

The requirement and templates can be found here

Proficiency in the English language can be documented in the following ways:

• TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language)
• IELTS (International English Testing Service)
• Completed university degree in the field of English language or literature
• One year’s completed university studies in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, the UK or USA, for which English was the language of instruction.

Applications will only be considered if all requested application documents are received before the application deadline.

All documentation to be assessed must be translated into English or a Polish language.

c. Final assessment

The applicants will be assessed by an expert committee. The committee’s mandate is to undertake an assessment of the applicants’ qualifications based on the application documents and the text of the announcement.

The Assessment Committee will give emphasis to the potential for research, as presented in the Master’s thesis or equivalent, or in any other academic works.

In the assessment, consideration may also be given to professional experience and any other activity which may be significant for the completion of the doctoral degree.

The applicants who are assessed as best qualified will be called to an interview. The interview shall, among other things, aim to clarify the applicant’s personal suitability for the position and motivations. A trial lecture may also be held. The qualification oral exam (list of questions) is obligatory final stage of the assessment.

IV. General

Questions concerning the organisation of the working environment, including that of the physical state of the workplace, health services, possibilities for flexible working hours, part-time work, etc. may be addressed to the telephone reference in this announcement or by KISD.

At IFJ PAN diversity is valued, and we therefore encourage all qualified applicants to apply regardless of their age, gender, functional ability or national or ethnic background. The institute is an equal opportunity employer and places importance on making the necessary adaptations to working conditions for employees with disabilities.

Personal information given in an application and CV will be treated in accordance with the Act relating to the processing of personal data (the Personal Data Act).

We look forward to receiving your application!