School VI of Medicine and Health Sciences comprises the fields of human medicine, medical physics and acoustics, neurosciences, psychology and health services research. Together with the four regional hospitals, School VI forms the University Medicine Oldenburg. Furthermore, there is close cooperation with the University Medicine of the University of Groningen.

At the institute for Medical Microbiology and Virology (Department for Human Medicine) at the University of Oldenburg there is a vacancy for the next possible date for a

PhD student (f/m/d)
(salary according to E 13 TV-L, 65% of regular working hours)

for a limited period of three years.

The project:

Retrotransposable elements (RTE) are genetic components that are capable to change their genomic location by a copy and paste mechanism. Retrotransposition events can be harmful for the host, as they induce genomic instability and diverse genetic alterations, causing neurological and age-related diseases. Therefore, RTE activity has to be tightly regulated. Several endogenous RTE inhibitors are members of the group of interferon-stimulated genes (ISGs). In this project we will examine how the ISG ‘shiftless’ contributes to the restriction of RTE and aim to determine the underlying molecular mechanism of action. The results of the project may contribute to basic understanding of pathogenesis of and prevention strategies for neurological and age-related diseases.

Responsibilities:

• Conduct experiments under BSL-2 conditions, including cell culture, fluorescence and confocal microscopy, immunoprecipitations, molecular cloning
• Data processing (image analysis and statistical analysis)
• Data presentation 

Required qualifications:

• An academic university degree (Master or equivalent) in virology, biomedicine, molecular biology or related sciences
• Laboratory experience in the fields of virology, immunology, molecular or cell biology
• Excellent communication skills in English 

Desired qualifications:

• Social competence and excellent team skills
• Motivation and flexibility, a high degree of dedication and productivity 

We offer:

• Working in a highly motivated research group
• Working in a 3-year funded project with multiple collaborators
• Possibilities to attend national and international conferences
• Well equipped BSL-2 facility
• Payment in accordance with collective bargaining law (special annual payment, company pension scheme, asset-related benefits) incl. 30 days annual leave
• Support and guidance during your induction phase
• A family-friendly environment with flexible working hours (flexitime) and the possibility of pro-rata mobile work
• Benefits from the company's health promotion programme
• An extensive free further education programme as well as our own scientific promotion of young academics (https://uol.de/medizin/nachwuchs) 

The University of Oldenburg is dedicated to increasing the percentage of female employees in the field of science. Therefore, female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply. In accordance with Lower Saxony regulations (§ 21 Section 3 NHG) female candidates with equal qualifications will be preferentially considered. Applicants with disabilities will be given preference in case of equal qualification.

In case of any questions, please contact Dr. Volker Kinast ().

Please send your application (motivation letter, a letter of recommendation (from the current or last position) and CV) as one pdf-file preferred by email by 16.06.2023 to Dr. Volker Kinast ().