UiT The Arctic University of Norway has established «The Arctic MSCA-PF program» (uit.no/project/arcticmsca) to recruit excellent young researchers planning to apply for a Marie Skƚodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship (MSCA-PF) to pursue a career in research. We invite applications from promising young researchers within the field of Mucosal immunology and Cancer. The selected candidate will write a proposal for a 24-month MSCA-PF at UiT together with Associate Professor Synnøve Magnussen. This is an opportunity to accelerate your research career while living in the urban research city of Tromsø, uniquely located at the top of the world surrounded by some of Europe’s last pristine wild nature.

This call is one of 70 from pre-selected supervisors at UiT The Arctic University of Norway through the “Arctic MSCA-PF program”. Successful postdoc candidates will be invited for a three-day MSCA-PF symposium June 4-6, 2024 (hybrid physical/digital event, see details at uit.no/project/arcticmsca/program-structure). At this event, the candidates will present their past research achievements, discuss future plans with their potential supervisor and learn how to write a successful MSCA-PF application. The selected candidates will, jointly with the supervisor, write the MSCA-PF application by the deadline of September 11, 2024.

In this call we search for talented, young researchers within the field of Mucosal immunology and Cancer as presented by Associate Professor Magnussen:

The oral cavity is a special and tightly controlled immune microenvironment. Cancers arising in the oral cavity are far more aggressive that their counterparts in the skin, implying a role of the tumor microenvironment. The body’s first encounter with ingested substances is through the oral cavity. Substances include potentially dangerous and pathogenic microbes. However, most of what we ingest is innocuous. The immune system therefore needs to be delicately balanced between tolerance to food and activation towards unwanted intruders. The common belief is that our intestines are the main drivers of building tolerance. However, less is known about whether the oral cavity plays a role in the development of tolerance. If so, can such a mechanism be employed by the developing oral cancer to escape the anti-cancer immune response? The successful post-doctoral fellow will be joining the Tumour Biology Research Group (TBRG) and mentored by Ass. Prof. Magnussen. The candidate will be given the opportunity to lead studies concerning the early aspects of cancer immune escape using both established in vitro and in vivo models, and state-of-the-art molecular microscopy. The TBRG furthermore hosts the national oral cancer patient cohort, NOROC, which allows clinically relevant finding to be tested in patient samples. We are seeking a candidate who is scientifically curious, can work independently, but who will also contribute into our warm and excellent team. 

Please send your CV (max 3 pages) and describe a research project that will strengthen and complement the presented research (max 2 pages) to synnove.magnussen@uit.no by Feb 16th 2024. Mark your application "Arctic MSCA". Successful candidates will be contacted in late March 2024.