Vilnius University (VU) invites motivated researchers with a strong track record to prepare joint applications for 2023 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowships (MSCA PF) call with a deadline on September 13, 2023. MSCA PF are among the flagship, most prestigious research fellowships in Europe, with the objective of supporting researchers’ careers, enhancing their creative and innovative potential, and fostering excellence in research.

• European Postdoctoral Fellowships are open to researchers of any nationality who wish to engage in R&I projects by either coming to Europe from any country in the world or moving within Europe (12-24 months).
• Global Postdoctoral Fellowships are open to European nationals or long-term residents who wish to engage in R&I projects with organisations outside EU Member States and Horizon Europe Associated Countries (12-24 months outgoing phase in a non-associated Third Country & 12 months mandatory return phase to a host organisation in Europe).
• Extra funding opportunity! If you are applying for the European Postdoctoral Fellowship with the host institution located in a widening country (Lithuania), and in case your proposal is not funded under the MSCA PF call due to a lack of budget, it will be automatically resubmitted to ERA Fellowships call and will have one more opportunity to get funding.

HOST INSTITUTION AND RESEARCH GROUP

VU is one of the oldest higher education institutions in Eastern and Central Europe. It tops the ranking as the number one university in Lithuania and leads the country in education, a broad spectrum of fundamental and applied research, training and retraining programs, and consultancy services and provides research and development services to a wide range of businesses. VU offers dynamic research and training environment and is well integrated into a collaborative network of international universities.

The fellow would be hosted at VU Life Sciences Center (LSC) European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) Partnership Institute. VU LSC is a partner institution of the EMBL for genome editing technologies established in September 2020 with the aim to advance scientific understanding of the biology and mechanisms of CRISPR as well as other antiviral defense systems.

SUPERVISOR

The Arias Lab is one of six inaugural research groups comprising the EMBL Partnership Institute at the Vilnius University Life Sciences Center. The Partnership is centered on developing novel genome editing technologies through in vivo and in vitro research.

Regenerative medicine - The use of human induced Pluripotent Stem (iPS) cells for the creation of adult cell types has revolutionized our understanding of developmental biology, and it is prone to drive the next generation of cell-based therapeutics. It is remarkable as it can provide new therapeutic opportunities for a wide range of human diseases. Today, Genome Engineering synergizes with Regenerative Medicine allowing us to confer novel therapeutic functions to cells, yielding "smart-therapeutics". Similarly, Genome Engineering allows us correcting deleterious mutations within our genomes both in vivo and ex vivo.

To fulfill this potential, the Arias lab engineers human iPS cells utilizing cutting-edge nucleases for the creation of cell-based therapeutics with clinical translation potential. This approach allows us to manufacture cells ex vivo and therefore we can introduce therapeutic functions in a reliable manner and perform extensive quality control. Our technologies and expertise include precise genome engineering, lineage-specific differentiation and AI driven biosciences.

Info about our publications https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3997-2355

Questions at jonathan.arias@gmc.vu.lt

PREFERRED EXPERIENCE AND PERSONAL SKILLS

• The ideal candidate has experience in cell culture in any of these fields: regenerative medicine or developmental biology, neuroscience, cancer research or alike;
• Experience in molecular biology and cloning is desired;
• Experience in gene editing in eukaryotes or other uses’ of CRISPR technology would be ideal;
• Willingness to learn and continuous pursue of excellence is the most important skill for our members.

ELIGIBLE APPLICANTS

• Supported fellows must be in possession of PhD at the call deadline (September 13, 2023).
• Have up to 8 years full-time equivalent experience in research from the date of award of the doctoral degree at the call deadline.
• Fellows must not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in the country of the beneficiary (for European Postdoctoral Fellowships), or the host organisation for the outgoing phase (for Global Postdoctoral Fellowships) for more than 12 months in the 36 months before the call deadline

Detailed information on the eligibility can be found on p. 91-94 of the MSCA Work Programme 2023-2024.

HOW TO APPLY?

• Contact the supervisor Jonathan Arias, jonathan.arias@gmc.vu.lt, directly to express your interest in making a joint application based on your research interests. Do not forget to provide the following documents (cc to research@cr.vu.lt):

         - curriculum vitae

         - list of publications

         - proposal summary

• Request a letter from your supervisor endorsing you as a candidate, and send it to the Research Projects Office (research@cr.vu.lt). The candidates who wish to participate in VU MSCA PF Webinar are kindly requested to submit their endorsement letters by June 2, 2023.
• After receiving your supervisor’s endorsement, you can start preparing your MSCA PF project proposal. Please note that in order to prepare and submit your application on time (by September 13, 2023), you can seek support from VU Research Projects Office (research@cr.vu.lt).

For more information follow the link.