GLYTUNES: Call for applications for Early Stage Researchers for 14 Doctoral (PhD) Training Positions in Glycosciences and Glyco-Immunology

GLYTUNES is an Innovative Training Network (ITN) funded by the European Union Horizon 2020 Programme. GLYTUNES represents a novel, pioneering platform for understanding and exploiting the Siglecs-glycans cross-talk by harnessing the synergy of combining chemical to biological, biophysical, immunological research strategies and finally translating this knowledge into novel diagnostics and therapeutics. The GLYTUNES training network involves leading scientists from academia and industry and offers doctoral research projects (PhD projects) for 14 early stage researchers (ESRs). The research topics range from fundamental to translational science and aim at i) unravelling the mechanisms governing sialo-glycans recognition by the immune surface receptors Siglecs, and ii) enabling the rational design and development of novel therapeutic and diagnostic strategies against immune and infectious diseases. Experts in chemical and structural biology, drug design and computational chemistry, synthetic and medicinal chemistry, biophysics, biochemistry, immunology and molecular and medical microbiology will provide the ESRs with a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary training. Successful applicants will receive training in carbohydrate chemistry, glycoimmunology, tumor immunology, microbiology, drug design and development, project management, scientific communication, funding programmes and grant writings, entrepreneurship, ethics and intellectual property. GLYTUNES will expose ESRs to a unique combination of “hands-on” research training, non-academic placements, courses, and workshops on scientific and complementary skills necessary for their future thriving careers in academia, clinical research or industry, and to become the new leaders in the expanding research area of glycoscience.

Participating in GLYTUNES offers early stage researchers many unique opportunities, including:

• A project as Marie Skłodowska Curie trainee in one of the participating institutions with the intention of receiving a doctoral degree (PhD).
• State-of-the art, exciting research in an international consortium with highly integrated research projects.
• Expert training in Glycosciences and Glyco-Immunology.
• At least three months of research training in the lab of another consortium member, mostly in a different EU country than the country where most of the project will take place.
• Training in both academic and commercial research environments.
• Salary according to EU guidelines for Marie Skłodowska Curie trainees, including mobility payments and family allowances where applicable.

Eligible candidates must:

• Hold a Master’s degree or equivalent in a field of science relevant to their chosen project (see below)
• Demonstrate a history of academic excellence
• Demonstrate an affinity for glycomics, glycosciences, chemical and structural biology, drug design and computational chemistry, synthetic and medicinal chemistry, glycoimmunology, molecular and medical microbiology
• Speak and write fluently in English
• Have less than 4-years previous research experience and not hold a doctoral (PhD) title
• Have not been resident in the country where the host institution is located for more than 12 months in the 3 years before recruitment
• Be available to start their project no later than November, 2021

INDIVIDUAL PROJECTS DESCRIPTION (find full details on PDF)

ESR1: Full characterization of bacterial sialylated envelope components

Hosting Institution: Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II (Italy)

Supervisor: Alba Silipo

Email address for the applications: silipo@unina.it

Subject area: Glycomics and glycosciences; microbial glycans; structural and chemical biology

Project-specific selection criteria: good skills/experience in structural glycoscience, NMR, carbohydrate chemistry and biochemistry; good knowledge of techniques for glycans structural biology, as isolation, purification methodologies, spectroscopic, biophysical, spectrometric techniques.

ESR2: The role of Siglecs in the association between Fusobacterium nucleatum strains and colon cancer

Hosting Institution: Quadram Institute Bioscience (UK)

Supervisor: Nathalie Juge

Email address for the applications: nathalie.juge@quadram.ac.uk

Subject area: Glycobiology; microbiology; cell biology; immunology

Project-specific selection criteria: expertise in microbiology including anaerobic bacteria, knowledge on host immune response, expertise in cell biology and bioimaging, expertise in protein purification and protein-carbohydrate interactions.

ESR3: Deciphering the structural details of the recognition mode of cancer-associated glycoproteins by Siglec receptors implicated in immune suppression in cancer

Hosting Institution: Center for Cooperative Research in Biosciences (Spain)

Supervisor: June Ereño-Orbea

Email address for the applications: jereno@cicbiogune.es

Subject area: Glycobiology, structural biology, biophysics

Project-specific selection criteria: Experience in recombinant protein expression and purification. Good knowledge of techniques in structural biology (i.e. X-ray crystallography, NMR) and biophysical techniques (i.e ITC and BLI).

ESR4: Studying the immunological pathways of the Sialic acid-Siglec axis including the Siglec/TLR cross-talk

Hosting Institution: VU University Medical Center (The Netherlands)

Supervisor: Yvette van Kooyk/Fabrizio Chiodo

Email address for the applications: Y.vankooyk@amsterdamumc.nl and f.chiodo@amsterdamumc.nl

Subject area: Immunology, chemical biology

Project-specific selection criteria: good skills in immunology, culturing, T cell responses, flowcytometry, microscopy, affinity with glycomics and glycosciences, interest in working in the field of cellular biology and chemistry.

ESR5: Biophysical characterization of Siglecs and Siglec- sialoglycans complexes

Hosting Institution: University of Florence - Magnetic Resonance Center (Italy)

Supervisor: Marco Fragai

Email address for the applications: fragai@cerm.unifi.it

Subject area: NMR spectroscopy and structural biology

Project-specific selection criteria: Candidates must have a master degree in any of the relevant disciplines: structural biology, chemistry, medicinal chemistry, physics and bio-physics. Good skill/experience in NMR spectroscopy will be considered an asset.

ESR6: High resolution structural analysis of Siglec oligomers by cryo-EM

Hosting Institution: Centre National De La Recherche Scientifique (France)

Supervisor: Irina Gutsche

Email address for the applications: irina.gutsche@ibs.fr

Subject area: Structural biology, high resolution cryo-electron microscopy

Project-specific selection criteria: experience in recombinant protein expression, purification and biochemical characterization techniques. Previous experience in electron microscopy would be an asset. No computational experience is required but interest in computing and image analysis is essential.

ESR7: Development and optimization of novel active glycomimetics

Hosting Institution: Radboud University (The Netherlands)

Supervisor: Thomas Boltje

Email address for the applications: t.boltje@ru.nl

Subject area: Organic (carbohydrate) chemistry, medicinal chemistry, chemical biology, cell biology.

Project-specific selection criteria: Good knowledge/skills/experience in: organic (carbohydrate) chemistry, medicinal chemistry, chemical biology, basic cell biology, in silico molecular docking.

ESR8: NMR methods for the characterisation of protein-ligand interactions using 19F-compounds

Hosting Institution: ATLAS Molecular Pharma (Spain)

Supervisor: Oscar Millet

Email address for the applications: omillet@cicbiogune.es

Subject area: High resolution NMR spectroscopy; drug discovery; protein-ligand interaction; molecular dynamics simulations; biophysics; pharmacology, pharmacological chaperones, protein isotope labeling.

Project-specific selection criteria: good skills/experience in NMR spectroscopy of structural biology in general; biophysics and enzymology; protein expression and purification; computational skills applied to bioinformatics.

ESR9: Chemoenzymatic synthesis of novel ligands for the detection or inhibition of Siglecs

Hosting Institution: ICENI Diagnostics (UK)

Supervisor: Rob Field

Email address for the applications: info@icenidiagnostics.com

Subject area: Organic chemistry, carbohydrate chemistry, protein chemistry, molecular diagnostics, assay development, lateral flow assay

Project-specific selection criteria: Experience in organic chemistry, ability to design and perform multistep synthesis process, hands-on experience of common purification and analytical techniques (flash chromatography, NMR, ESI-MS), experience in carbohydrate chemistry, enzymatic process or assay development would be a distinct advantage.

ESR10: Synthesis of Advanced sialylated glycans libraries and their variant

Hosting Institution: GlycoUniverse (Germany)

Supervisor: Kim Le Mai Hoang

Email address for the applications: kim.lemaihoang@glycouniverse.de

Subject area: Glycomics and glycosciences; synthetic and analytical carbohydrate chemistry; enzymatic synthesis; automated solid phase synthesis

Project-specific selection criteria: good skills/experience in synthetic organic and preferably carbohydrate chemistry, purification and analysis techniques; some experience with enzymatic organic chemistry as well as solid-phase synthesis and automation is preferable.

ESR11: Expression and biophysical characterization of Siglec proteins

Hosting Institution: Giotto Biotech (Italy)

Supervisor: Tommaso Martelli

Email address for the applications: martelli@giottobiotech.com

Subject area: Molecular biology, biochemistry, biology, chemistry, strucutral biology

Project-specific selection criteria: Candidates must have a master degree in any of the relevant disciplines: molecular biology, biology, biochemistry, structural biology, chemistry and medicinal chemistry. Good skill/experience in protein expression from prokaryotic and eukaryotic systems and protein purification and characterization will be considered an asset.

ESR12: Physico-chemical analysis of Siglecs-Glycan complexes

Hosting Institution: Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II (Italy)

Supervisor: Alba Silipo

Email address for the applications: silipo@unina.it

Subject area: Glycomics and glycosciences; structural glycoscience (NMR spectroscopy, MD); molecular interactions; biophysics

Project-specific selection criteria: good skills/experience in glycans structural and conformational analysis; structural biology (NMR); glycomics, biophysical and computational approaches for the characterization of 3D complexes and protein-ligand interaction.

ESR13: Looking at different sialylation in cancer tissues using Siglecs (and tissues sialic acids) as biomarkers

Hosting Institution: VU University Medical Center (The Netherlands)

Supervisor: Yvette van Kooyk/Fabrizio Chiodo

Email address for the applications: Y.vankooyk@amsterdamumc.nl and f.chiodo@amsterdamumc.nl

Subject area: Cancer immunology, glycosciences

Project-specific selection criteria: Cancer biology and immunology, mouse model systems, immunotherapy, immunohistochemistry, flowcytometry, cell culturing, molecular biology.

ESR14: Sialic acid biosynthesis inhibitors to target the sialic acid – Siglec axis

Hosting Institution: Radboud University (The Netherlands)

Supervisor: Thomas Boltje

Email address for the applications: t.boltje@ru.nl

Subject area: Organic (carbohydrate) chemistry, medicinal chemistry, chemical biology, cell biology.

Project-specific selection criteria: Good knowledge/skills/experience in: organic (carbohydrate) chemistry, medicinal chemistry, chemical biology, basic cell biology, in silico molecular docking.