The European Training Network (ETN) NeuroTrans (NEUROtransmitter TRANSporters: From single molecules to human pathologies) announces 15 PhD candidate positions for Early-Stage Researchers (ESRs) with the option of being awarded a doctoral degree. NeuroTrans is an Innovative Training Networks (ITN) from the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Programme, funded by the European Commission under the framework of Horizon 2020. The NeuroTrans ETN (Grant number 860954) will establish an international training programme by forming a highly interdisciplinary team of world-leading European researchers from 9 universities and 5 industrial partners. NeuroTrans makes ample use of existing cutting-edge methods to reach this goal, but also develops enabling techniques in biophysics, molecular and structural biology.
The vision of the NeuroTrans project is:
- to reach a comprehensive understanding of neurotransmitter:sodium symporter (NSS) function ranging from the molecular level to human pathologies,
- to investigate how psychoactive substances target these transporters,
- to elucidate how disruption of transporter function contributes to neuropsychiatric disease pathobiology.
To accomplish our vision, NeuroTrans will establish an interdisciplinary training school that includes most important subdisciplines in quantitative biology, including molecular modelling, computer simulations, biophysics, biochemistry, neurobiology, human pathology, molecular and structural biology, but also engineering and programming. Through the training offered by NeuroTrans, PhD candidates will develop a cutting edge set of skills ranging from computer simulations to membrane protein structural biology, dynamics and thermodynamics to human diseases, pathologies and instrument development. By integration of the industrial sector in the training, NeuroTrans will offer training in entrepreneurship, product development and commercialisation to prepare the NeuroTrans students for acquiring leading positions in academia and industry.
Details on the NeuroTrans programme and the recruitment can be found on the NeuroTrans homepage. The positions are available at 9 universities and 3 companies in 8 different European countries. Employment is according to the regulations by the hosting university or company and the rules of the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions. All Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions funded ESR position positions are limited to a duration of 36 months, but can be extended according to national regulations. The PhD candidate will enroll in a university PhD programme.
Applications need to be directed to the NeuroTrans consortium (office@neurotrans.org), including the completed Application Form available through the homepage of NeuroTrans (www.neurotrans.org).
The 15 projects of NeuroTrans are:
- Project 1) Molecular insights into the role of lipids and regulatory proteins on sodium coupling and inhibition of the GABA transporters BGT1 and GAT1.
Hosting institution and working location: University of Regensburg, Germany
Principal investigator: Christine Ziegler
- Project 2) NMR based structural and dynamic investigation of the transport cycle of NSS transporters
Hosting institution and working location: NOVA University of Lisbon, Portugal
Principal investigator: Eurico Cabrita
- Project 3) Purification, functional characterization and reconstitution of DAT and LeuT.
Hosting institution and working location: University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Principal investigator: Claus Løland
- Project 4) Development of a comprehensive model of GABA transporter function
Hosting institution and working location: Medical University of Vienna, Austria
Principal investigator: Thomas Stockner
- Project 5) Electrophysiological characterization of NSS transporters and formulation of an overall kinetic model
Hosting institution and working location: Nanion, Munich, Germany
Principal investigator: Andre Bazzone
- Project 6) Electrophysiological approaches to study, ion coupling and transport by NSS transporters
Hosting institution and working location: University of Insubria, Italy
Principal investigator: Elena Bossi
- Project 7) Kinetics of substrate transport for deduction of mechanistic models of the transport cycle
Hosting institution and working location: University of Groningen, The Netherlands
Principal investigator: Dirk Slotboom
- Project 8) Prototype development for the determination of transporter-ligand binding thermodynamics using a thermo-optical approach
Hosting institution and working location: Nanotemper, Munich, Germany
Principal investigator: Julia Baldauf
- Project 9) Integrative modelling of ligand binding, transporter stability and the transport cycle
Hosting institution and working location: Medical University of Vienna, Austria
Principal investigator: Thomas Stockner
- Project 10) Time resolved structural studies of membrane transporters
Hosting institution and working location: Hamburg University, Germany
Principal investigator: Arwen Pearson
- Project 11) Single-molecule studies of secondary-active transporters and their environmental dependence.
Hosting institution and working location: Ludwig-Maximilans University Munich, Germany
Principal investigator: Thorben Cordes
- Project 12) Resolving coarse-grained dynamic distance constraints of the transport cycle of NSS transporters using EPR spectroscopy
Hosting institution and working location: University of East Anglia, UK
Principal investigator: Fraser MacMillan
- Project 13) Characterization of the molecular mode of action of novel psychoactive substances
Hosting institution and working location: Medical University of Vienna, Austria
Principal investigator: Harald Sitte
- Project 14) Development of a microfluidic cell perfusion station for controlled compound delivery and real time fluorescence monitoring
Hosting institution and working location: Elvesys, France
Principal investigator: Christa Ivanova
- Project 15) Assessing the molecular determinants of novel disease-causing mutations in DAT
Hosting institution and working location: University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Principal investigator: Ulrik Gether
For More Information, click here.