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 Advanced drug delivery systems. The selected candidate will write a proposal for a 24-month MSCA-PF at UiT together with Associate Professor Ann Mari Holsæter. 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 3-5, 2025 (hybrid physical/digital event, see details at https://uit.no/arcticmsca/programstructure). 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 10, 2025. 

In this call we search for talented, young researchers within the field of Advanced drug delivery systems as presented by Associate Professor Ann Mari Holsæter:

My research focus is on advanced nano-delivery systems, aiming to improve drug therapy through multifunctionality, improved uptake, stability and/or specificity, and with reduced side-effects and more effective therapy as the main goal. Lately, my research interest has been particularly focused on wound healing and multifunctional wound dressings, including using novel biomaterials, liposomes, nanofibers and hydrogels, either applied alone or in combination. Here, the advantages of local therapy in the combat of antimicrobial resistance in chronic wound, as well omitting side effects seen in systemic therapy has been in focus. I am head of the electrospinning section in our research group, where wire electrospinning of nanofibers and in applying "dual centrifugation" for the homogenization and size reduction of nanoparticle, as well as for mixing and deaeration of polymer mixtures and hydrogels, are core technologies. Ex. of previous work; Schulte-Werning et al. (2024) Antimicrobial liposomes-in-nanofiber wound dressings prepared by a green and sustainable wire-electrospinning set- up. Int J Pharm. doi:10.1016/j.ijpharm.2024.124136 Holsæter et al. (2022) How docetaxel entrapment, vesicle size, zeta potential and stability change with liposome composition–A formulation screening study. Eur J Pharm Sci. doi:10.1016/J.EJPS.2022.106267 Grip et al. (2018) Beta-glucan-loaded nanofiber dressing improves wound healing in diabetic mice. Eur J Pharm Sci. doi:10.1016/j.ejps.2018.05.031

Please send your CV (max 3 pages) and describe a research project that will strengthen and complement the presented research (max 2 pages) to ann-mari.holsater@uit.no by Feb 16th 2025. Mark your application "Arctic MSCA". Successful candidates will be contacted in late March 2025.