The Department of Pharmacy is offering a three-year PhD fellowship to investigate the use of cubosomes for delivery of host defence peptides through the skin. The PhD project will be carried out within the recently established LEO Foundation Center for Cutaneous Drug Delivery (LFCCDD), which integrates several disciplines, including physical chemistry, pharmaceutics, molecular biology, immunology, and microbiology, to perform state-of-the-art research and to create innovative solutions within cutaneous drug delivery of both small and large molecules.
The successful applicant will be a member of the Novel Biological Models group and will have the opportunity for cross-disciplinary research in collaboration with the other sections of the Center as well as external collaborators.
The fellowship is available from the 1st of December 2021 or as soon as possible thereafter.
Project description
Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a multifactorial relapsing inflammatory skin disease affecting 15-30% of children and 2-10% of adults worldwide. The presence of Staphylococcus aureus has been shown to precede flares in AD patients and exacerbate disease state through several immune-mediated mechanisms. In the lesions of these patients, protease activity is aberrant and protease-induced decreased levels of antimicrobial peptides are a popular explanation for the observed increased susceptibility to infection. Therefore, in this project we will investigate the use of host defence peptides (HDPs) as novel drug candidates for AD infections, to target both infection and inflammation. To facilitate skin penetration by these peptides, the use of delivery systems is essential. For that reason, we will optimise the formulation of HDPs in cubosomes and use these to establish a range of in vitro assays suitable for increasing our understanding of the immunological and microbiological consequences of deeper skin penetration by HDPs.
Read the full text and apply online
Only applications submitted via the University of Copenhagen Job portal will be considered!
Please do not send your CV and other files to the supervisor directly.
Deadline 22-09-2021 23:59 CEST
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