PhD Position University of Aarhus Denmark

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August 1, 2008

PhD position – Pectic Polysaccharides for Coating of Bone Implants, Reannouncement

Applications are invited for a PhD position (3 years) at the University of Aarhus, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences (DJF) in Copenhagen in the research group of Cell Wall Biology and Molecular Virology, Department of Genetics and Biotechnology. The candidate will work in the area of specialty pectins, their production and biomedical uses. The position is available for three years beginning 1 September 2008 or as soon as possible thereafter.

The objective of the project is to address problems pertaining to the integration of bone contacting devices, in particular with regard to integration in poor quality bone. Bone contacting implants are widely used for e.g. orthopedic, maxillofacial and dental applications. New developments in surface topographies of titanium surfaces have resulted in increased success rates. However, in situations with compromised bone quality e.g. osteoporotic bone and in bone transplants, improvement is very much needed. Furthermore, there is a need for a chemical stimulation of bone cells at the implant surface to “speed up” the integration time, and thereby decrease the healing times. This research project is focused on addressing these issues by increasing the biocompatibility of the titanium implant by a coating material. We will design, synthesize and use novel pectic polysaccharides for coating of implants and employ state of the art nanotechnology methods for surface derivatization and characterization, and use both in vitro and in vivo methods for gauging mammalian cell and tissue responses to the grafted surfaces.

Research area
The PhD-project will span a wide range of research areas from plant biotechnology to surface characterization at the nano-level and mammalian cell responses to grafted surfaces.

You will obtain various pectic rhamnogalacturonan-I (RG-I) molecules from plants, some designed via in vivo expressed enzymes, others via post enzyme/acid treatments. The isolated RG-I molecules will be purified and the complex structure of RG-I will be characterized in details using a number of different methods. The results obtained from coating analysis and cell culture responds of the RG-I molecules, after sialylation, will be analyzed and, if needed, tailoring of the next generation of RG-I molecules will be accordingly to these.

Qualifications
The formal requirement for applying is a relevant Master degree. It takes more, however, to write a successful application.

It is the aim of the project to train a young researcher in a highly multidisciplinary research environment. We do not expect applicants to have particular experience in all fields relevant to the project, but a successful applicant will point out particular strengths and experiences in some areas and relate most of the remaining areas to courses and projects in his/her master level education. To do so, it will probably be helpful to read the papers Morra et al http://www.dias.kvl.dk/BiomacromoleculesMorra.pdf and Marie-Daniel et al http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bbagen.2008.04.002

The areas are:

In vitro models or bioassays based on mammalian cell culture
Cell biology in general and glycobiology in particular
Carbohydrate chemistry as related to analysis and spectroscopy, to polysaccharide biochemistry, or to cell wall biology

It shall be emphasized again that applicants are not required to have in-depth experimental experience with all there areas, but failure to relate research interests and topics of Bachelor thesis, Master thesis and advanced level courses to the project relevant research areas will result in rejection of the application without further evaluation.

Place of Employment and Place of Work
The place of employment is the University of Aarhus , and the place of work is the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, Thorvaldsensvej 40, DK-1871 Frederiksberg C, Denmark .

Salary and Terms of Employment
Salary and terms of employment are according to current agreement for state-employed academics and government circular from the Ministry of Finance regarding PhD students as well as the appointment structure of 2007 for scientific personnel at universities.

The scientific qualifications of the applicants will be evaluated by a scientific evaluation committee. For this purpose the applicants should include full curriculum vitae including documentation for the Master degree with a list of courses and grades, a description of the applicant’s professional research profile, a complete list of publications, reprints of publications of central importance to the application, and a motivation for applying.
Applicants seeking further information are invited to contact senior researcher Iben Damager tel. +45 35 33 25 79 or e-mail: i.damager@dias.kvl.dk

Application
A written application should be marked ”GBI-PhD-CMV”. Four copies of the application including curriculum vitae, references, publications and other relevant material should be sent to:

University of Aarhus
Faculty of Agricultural Sciences
Department of Genetics and Biotechnology
P.O. Box 50
DK-8830 Tjele
Denmark

Alternatively applications may be sent by e-mail to: gbi.djf@agrsci.dk

The closing date for applications is 11 August 2008 at 12.00 noon.

Scholarship Tags: Bone, Coating, Denmark, Implants, Pectic, PhD, Polysaccharides, Position, Reannouncement, University of Aarhus