One to two PhD students in Medical Science

Umeå University, Faculty Office of Medicine

Umeå University is one of Sweden’s largest higher education institutions with over 37,000 students and about 4,700 employees. The University offers a diversity of high-quality education and world-leading research in several fields. Notably, the groundbreaking discovery of the CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing tool, which was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, was made here. At Umeå University, everything is close. Our cohesive campuses make it easy to meet, work together and exchange knowledge, which promotes a dynamic and open culture.

The ongoing societal transformation and large green investments in northern Sweden create enormous opportunities and complex challenges. For Umeå University, conducting research about – and in the middle of – a society in transition is key. We also take pride in delivering education to enable regions to expand quickly and sustainably. In fact, the future is made here.

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The Faculty of Medicine, which consists of 13 departments, is responsible for biomedical research and courses in the field of nursing and health care and has an extensive research and graduate education in more than 80 subjects.

The Department of Medical Biosciences is an internationally successful research environment with a translational focus in pathology, clinical chemistry and medical and clinical genetics. The department belongs to the Faculty of Medicine at Umeå University (https://www.umu.se/institutionen-for-medicins-biovetenskap/ ) and has approximately 90 employees who conduct research, clinical activities, and teaching. The department is located in the “Translational Research Centre”, a research center at Umeå University in direct contact with Norrland University Hospital.

We are looking for one to two PhD students in medical science with a specialization in pathology. There are several research projects starting in our newly established research group at the Department of Medical Biosciences, Umeå University. The research group is connected to SciLifeLab and is part of the National Program for Data-driven Life Science (DDLS, www.sscilifelab.se/data-driven ), generously funded by the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation. Our research uses machine learning and mechanistic computational models along with patient data to create clinically predictive computational models for cancer and other diseases.

The position as a doctoral student is aimed at a doctoral degree and is time-limited to a maximum of four years full-time. The employment may also include part-time teaching (up to a maximum of 20%). In that case, the total time of the doctoral position is extended accordingly (up to a maximum of five years). The doctoral student’s main task is to devote his-/or herself to his/her own doctoral education, which includes participation in research projects as well as doctoral education courses, seminars, journal clubs, and conferences. Students admitted to doctoral education are included in the Joint Faculty Doctoral Education Program at the Faculty of Medicine. Information about the program can be found on the faculty’s website for Postgraduate Education (PhD education at the Faculty of Medicine – handbook ).

A brief description of the planned projects:

(i) development and application of multiomics data integration algorithms,
(ii) creation and simulation of large-scale mechanistic models, and
(iii) applying such models to large/patient data sets for the creation of clinically relevant computational models.

• Access to the High Performance Computing Center North (HPC2N) in Umeå and the National Academic Infrastructure for Supercomputing in Sweden (NAISS), Berzelius and EuroHPC as well as support from SciLifeLab’s infrastructure provide opportunities for computationally intensive simulations.
• Experimental facilities within the department, the faculty and via SciLifeLab.
• Advantages of being part of the national DDLS program and its network of doctoral students and postdocs across Sweden, which also interacts with the network PALS (Program for Academic Leaders in Life Science, www.palsnetwork.se ).
• Possibility of collaboration with preclinical, translational and clinical employees at the department and faculty.
• Courses and other activities organized by the joint faculty postgraduate program.

In order for you to be eligible to doctoral studies at Umeå University you are required to meet both the general and specific entry requirements.

General Entry Requirement

Applicants must have completed a degree at advanced level, have completed course requirements comprising of at least 240 higher education credits (hc), of which at least 60 hc were awarded at advanced level, or have acquired equivalent knowledge in some other way in Sweden or abroad.

Specific Entry Requirements

In order to be admitted to postgraduate education, the applicant must have the necessary knowledge from a university degree or equivalent education and/or professional experience that is assessed in relation to the postgraduate education area, as well as the necessary language skills in English. Both written and oral skills are required. The assessment of these skills is done by the intended doctoral student presenting his/her research plan in English to the department’s Doctoral Education Committee.

Other qualifications

Education and/or experience in programming is a requirement. Experience in PK/PD and ODE-based modeling as well as education and/or experience in statistics and machine learning is strongly advantageous. Basic experience of laboratory work and cell culture is also considered a merit.

The successful candidate is highly motivated and has the ability to take own initiatives, be able to work both independently as well as part of a team. Furthermore, the applicant should have good analytical and organizational skill. Great emphasis will be placed on qualities such as flexibility, accuracy as well as the candidate’s potential collaborative skills.

Very good knowledge in English, both oral and written, is required. English skills will be evaluated by the Postgraduate Studies Committee at the department.

A complete application, written in English, must include the following documents:

• A personal letter describing your qualifications, research interests including motivation for your application for the advertised position (max. 2 A4 pages).
• Curriculum vitae (CV) that contains information about education, previous and current employment and any publications where you were an author or co-author.
• Certified copies of diplomas, including documentation of completed academic courses, obtained grades and other relevant certificates you wish to rely on.
• During the employment process, we may request references so please provide the names and contact details of at least two references.

Salary  

The salary is fixed according to the established salary scale for PhD students.

Starting date 

April 1, 2024 or upon agreement.

Additional information about the position 

For further information about the position, please contact Cemal Erdem, email address: [email protected] .

Your application, which must be written in English, is made through our e-recruitment system, Varbi. All documents must be uploaded in pdf format. The application deadline is January 14, 2024. 

We look forward to receiving your application!

Umeå University strives to offer an equal environment where open dialogue between people with different backgrounds and perspectives lay the foundation for learning, creativity and development. We welcome people with different backgrounds and experiences to apply for the current employment.

We kindly decline offers of recruitment and advertising help.