Max Delbrück Center is part of two new European Marie Skłodowska-Curie networks that train PhD candidates in academia and industry. The NUCLEAR network will advance knowledge of how metabolism influences cell decisions and cancer, while the UNION network will explore healthy ageing and the immune system.
Students interested in studying the cell nucleus and metabolism or ageing and immunity for their PhD – and a desire for multi-disciplinary and international training – should consider applying for positions at Max Delbrück Center through two Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action Doctoral Networks.
These European networks are pretty amazing because you get to work with the best European researchers on a particular topic.
Katja Simon
Head of the Lab "Cell Biology of Immunity"
Both networks are designed to provide students with multidisciplinary training in academia and industry to boost innovation and employability. The prestigious EU programs are exciting opportunities for collaboration for students and the principal investigators they will be working with.
“These European networks are pretty amazing because you get to work with the best European researchers on a particular topic,” says Professor Katja Simon, who heads the Cell Biology of Immunity Lab at Max Delbrück Center, and will host two students in the UNION network.
Ageing and immunity
The UnderstandiNg fraIlty tOwards a future of healthy ageiNg (UNION) network is focused on advancing the current understanding of frailty and providing innovative solutions for healthy aging.
Students in Simon’s lab will be involved with projects investigating autophagy, the process of cells recycling their own components, and its role in ageing. “Our lab is very curious about how cells clear out their rubbish and how this helps the immune system stay healthy,” Katja Simon says. “We are investigating key questions like: What cellular components need to be degraded during ageing? And what goes wrong with autophagy during ageing?” One project will study pharmacological ways to turn on the autophagy process as part of investigating these questions in older people’s immune cells.
Another student will work on the effects of intermittent fasting on the immune system. They will work within a multidisciplinary clinical trial, where volunteers fast before receiving a vaccine. In this translational project, the student will track the volunteers’ immune responses to the shot and reveal underlying molecular processes that differ in fasting participants.
The UNION network involves 15 participating organizations in the EU, and is coordinated by Dr. Massimiliano Ruscica from the University of Milano. Both PhD students will be based in Berlin in the Simon lab, but they will spend some time either in Madrid or Cologne and will be part of the European network of PhD students that will meet yearly in one of the participating countries.
The role of metabolism
The NUCLEAR network is focused on the cell nucleus, and how nutrients and metabolism influence DNA expression, cell identity and cancer development. For a long time, metabolism was thought to be a function of cell identity, but in the past decade, researchers are learning that metabolism actually regulates cell fate decisions by changing the chromatin structure – the dense complex of DNA folded up inside the nucleus. The NUCLEAR network aims to gain insights about this interaction that can help target cancer cells or be used in stem cell biology.
Interdisciplinarity is a key focus of the program by requiring time in other labs and experience working in industry. It provides 360-degree preparation and training for the student’s future career.
Ilaria Piazza
Head of the Lab "Allosteric Proteomics"
Dr. Ilaria Piazza, who heads the Allosteric Proteomics Lab at Max Delbrück Center, will host one of the doctoral student positions. The student will have an opportunity to study the role of a specific protein in cancer, combine structural proteomics and metabolomics, and participate in the drug discovery process. Students will spend several months in at least one other lab in the network, as well as with a company in the network.
“Interdisciplinarity is a key focus of the program by requiring time in other labs and experience working in industry,” Piazza says. “It provides 360-degree preparation and training for the student’s future career.”
The NUCLEAR network involves 16 organizations, coordinated by Dr. Marcus Buschbeck of the Josep Carreras Leukaemia Research Institute in Spain.
“Some labs are more focused on biological questions and others are better at technological development and so we are able to join forces together through this network,” Piazza says.
Mobility requirements
Both networks are designed to encourage students to immerse themselves in a different country and culture. Applicants must not have lived, studied or worked in the country they plan to apply to for their PhD program for more than twelve months in the 36 months prior to the program recruitment.
Applications for the NUCLEAR network will open soon and be accepted until March 16. Students will begin at the same time in September in order to facilitate networking and cross training schedules.
Applications for the UNION network will open on March 3 with a deadline of April 7 and successful candidates will begin in September. More info will be posted on the lab page of Katja Simon.
