PhD fellowship in Pharmacometrics at Department of Drug Design and Pharmacology

Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences
University of Copenhagen

We are offering a three-year PhD fellowship in Pharmacometrics commencing 15 December 2022 or as soon as possible thereafter.

Project description
The overarching aim of the project is to improve treatment of patients with leukemia. Focus for the PhD-student will be to develop population pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic models describing the inter-individual differences in exposure and response of cancer chemotherapeutics such as the tyrosine kinase inhibitor, imatinib. Pharmacogenomics data on variations in enzymes, transporters and drug targets will be taken into account with the aim of determining an individual dose that can attain the desired treatment effect for each individual patient.

Principal supervisor
Associate Professor Trine Meldgaard Lund, Department of Drug Design and Pharmacology, University of Copenhagen
E-mail:  [email protected] , direct phone: +45 35 33 63 40.

Co-supervisors
Professor Kjeld Schmiegelow, Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Rigshospitalet,
E-mail:  [email protected] , direct phone: +45 35 45 13 57.

Associate Professor Alexander Sebastian Hauser, Department of Drug Design and Pharmacology, University of Copenhagen
E-mail:  [email protected] , direct phone: + 45 35 33 25 56.

Start
15 December 2022

Duration
3 years as a PhD student

Our groups and research
The project will be rooted in the Pharmacometrics Group at Department of Drug Design and Pharmacology , where the population pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic (PKPD) modelling and simulation will be carried out. The clinical part of the study will be performed in collaboration with Paediatric Oncology Research Laboratory (BonkoLab ) at Rigshospitalet and the pharmacogenomic part in in collaboration with the Pharmacogenomics Group at Department of Drug Design and Pharmacology .

Pharmacometrics Group, Department of Drug Design and Pharmacology, University of Copenhagen
The Pharmacometrics Group has expertise in population PKPD modelling which is the science of developing computer-based mathematical and statistical models that provide useful mechanistic understanding of the processes involved in drug exposure and corresponding therapeutic effect as a function of time. Population PKPD modelling also allows description and explanation of inter-individual differences in therapeutic response. The group’s research projects fall within many therapeutic areas including oncology, obesity and pain management. The group has close collaborations with other universities in Europe and Australia as well as Danish hospitals, many of the Danish medicinal companies and the Danish Medicines Agency.

Pediatric Oncology Research Lab, Rigshospitalet (Bonkolab)
The research will be done in collaboration with Bonkolab. The laboratory carries out pharmacological and pharmacogenetic analyzes that are used in the treatment of children and young adults with cancer both in Denmark and abroad, as well as for hospital departments that use chemotherapy in other patient treatment. The quantitative analyses for therapeutic drug monitoring will be performed at Bonkolab. The laboratory's staff consists of 10 bioanalysts/laboratory technicians and two post.docs. (chemistry). The laboratory has UPLC instruments from Waters and Sciex with UV, fluorescence and triple quadrupole detectors, with associated equipment for sample preparation.

Bonkolab is the largest Nordic unit for childhood cancer research with more than 130 employees.

Bonkolab has close collaboration with researchers at the University of Copenhagen, the Technical University of Denmark as well as research institutions in Europe, Australia and the USA.

Pharmacogenomics Group, Department of Drug Design and Pharmacology, University of Copenhagen
Understanding human genetic variation has the potential to transform healthcare and continues to motivate massive investments in the collection of human population biobanks combining genomics with clinical data such as for the UK Biobank, iPSYCH, or FinnGen. The pharmacogenomics group is exploiting these resources in an integrative fashion towards a better understanding of treatment variability. The group develops methods to integrate omics with population-based data to illuminate relationships between genotype, environment, and treatment outcomes that can be utilized for drug target selection and drug repurposing efforts.

Job description
Your key tasks as a PhD student at the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences are:

• Carrying through an independent research project under supervision
• Completing PhD courses or other equivalent education corresponding to approximately 30 ECTS points
• Participating in active research environments including a stay at another research team, preferably abroad
• Obtaining experience with teaching or other types of dissemination related to your PhD project
• Teaching of undergraduate students in pharmaceutical sciences
• Writing a PhD thesis on the grounds of your project

Key criteria for the assessment of applicants
Applicants must have qualifications corresponding to a master’s degree related to the subject area of the project, e.g. master in pharmacy or master in pharmaceutical sciences. Please note that your master’s degree must be equivalent to a Danish master’s degree (two years).

Other important criteria are:

• Experience with population pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic modelling
• Hands-on skills in programs as NONMEM, Phoenix WinNonlin and R and/or Python
• Previous publications
• The grade point average achieved
• An interest in drug analyses for therapeutic drug monitoring
• A curious mind-set with a strong interest in quantitative clinical pharmacology
• Other professional qualifications relevant to the PhD project
• Ability to work in interdisciplinary teams
• Excellent communication skills
• Excellent English skills written and spoken

Terms of employment
The position is a fixed-term position limited to a period of 3 years and the average weekly working hours are 37 hours per week. The position is to commence 15 December or as soon as possible hereafter.

The employment is conditioned upon the applicant’s successful enrolment as a PhD student at the Graduate School at the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen. This requires submission and acceptance of an application for the specific project to the Graduate School of Health and Medical Sciences.

The PhD study must be completed in accordance with The Ministerial Order on the PhD programme (2013) and the Faculty’s rules on achieving the degree.

The PhD student is expected to be affiliated to the graduate programme in pharmaceutical sciences, Drug Research Academy .

Salary, pension, and terms of employment are in accordance with the agreement between the Ministry of Finance and The Danish Confederation of Professional Associations on Academics in the State. Depending on seniority, the monthly salary starts at approximately 28,440 DKK/roughly 3,890 EUR (October 2022 level) plus pension.

Application procedure
Your application, in English, must be submitted electronically by clicking “Apply now” below and must include the following documents in PDF format:

• Motivated letter of application (max. one page)
• CV incl. education, experience, language skills and other skills relevant for the position
• Certified copy of original Master of Science diploma and transcript of records in the original language, including an authorized English translation if issued in other language than English or Danish. If not completed, a certified/signed copy of a recent transcript of records or a written statement from the institution or supervisor is accepted.
  As a prerequisite for a PhD fellowship employment, your master’s degree must be equivalent to a Danish master’s degree. We encourage you to read more in the assessment database: https://ufm.dk/en/education/recognition-and-transparency/find-assessments/assessment-database . Please note that we might ask you to obtain an assessment of your education performed by the Ministry of Higher Education and Science.
  Applicants with a Master´s degree from abroad should also enclose a short description of the grading scale used
• Publication list (if possible)
• Other information to consider: References and recommendations (if possible)

The deadline for applications is 12 October 2022, 23.59pm CET

We reserve the right not to consider material received after the deadline, and not to consider applications that do not live up to the abovementioned requirements.

The further process
After the expiry of the deadline for applications, the authorised recruitment manager selects applicants for assessment on the advice of the hiring committee. All applicants are then immediately notified whether their application has been passed for assessment by an unbiased assessor.

The assessor makes a non-prioritized assessment of the academic qualifications and experience with respect to the above-mentioned area of research, techniques, skills and other requirements listed in the advertisement.

Once the assessment work has been completed each applicant has the opportunity to comment on the part of the assessment that relates to the applicant him/herself.

The applicant will be assessed according to the Ministerial Order no. 242 of 13 March 2012 on the Appointment of Academic Staff at Universities.

Interviews are expected to be held in week 44.

You can read about the recruitment process at https://employment.ku.dk/faculty/recruitment-process/ .

Questions
For further information, applicants may contact the principal supervisor Trine Meldgaard Lund, e-mail:  [email protected] , direct phone: +45 35 33 63 40 or PhD coordinator Marianne W. Jørgensen, e-mail: [email protected] , direct phone: +45 3533 6449.

General information about PhD studies at the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences is available at the Graduate School’s website: https://healthsciences.ku.dk/phd/guidelines/ .

For more information on working and living in Denmark visit http://ism.ku.dk (International staff mobility) and https://www.workindenmark.dk .

The University of Copenhagen wish to reflect the diversity of society and encourage all qualified candidates to apply regardless of personal background.

Part of the International Alliance of Research Universities (IARU), and among Europe’s top-ranking universities, the University of Copenhagen promotes research and teaching of the highest international standard. Rich in tradition and modern in outlook, the University gives students and staff the opportunity to cultivate their talent in an ambitious and informal environment. An effective organisation – with good working conditions and a collaborative work culture – creates the ideal framework for a successful academic career.