Prof M Novič
Applications accepted all year round
About the Project
The in3 project is funded by the EU's Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action - Innovative Training Network (MSCA-ITN for short) that aims to drive the synergistic development and utilisation of in vitro and in silico tools for human chemical and nanomaterial (NM) safety assessment. The project, coordinated by Paul Jennings, will focus on differentiation of human induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (hiPSC) to toxicologically relevant target tissues including; brain, lung, liver and kidney. The tissues, from the same genetic backgrounds, will be exposed to several compounds and the data generated will be used to develop safety assessment approaches by integrating cheminformatics, mechanistic toxicology and biokinetics into computational models. The project will hire 15 PhD students to carry out these activities in a coordinated and highly collaborative fashion. The scientists trained within in3 will acquire a unique multidisciplinary skill set giving them a competitive employment advantage in safety assessment sciences either in industry, governmental bodies or academia.
The project will run from January 2017 to the end of 2021. Recruitment is open now and will remain open until all positions are filled. Each of the 15 positions advertised is a 3 year PhD position. Applicants must be Early-Stage Researchers (ESRs), meaning that they are within the first four years (full-time equivalent) of their research careers and have not yet been awarded a doctoral degree (PhD). We expect the first ESRs to commence employment in May/June 2017. We aim to have all positions filled by August 2017.
The project aims to develop a methodology for improved in silico models including characterization of substrate specificity and P-gp transport of exogenous chemicals. The main goal is to develop in silico approaches that provide rapid and cost-effective screening platforms for the identification of P-gp substrates as well as for their transport characteristics. This will involve pharmacophore modelling and molecular docking aiming to predict P-gp inhibition properties of small drug molecules or pharmacologically-relevant P-gp substrates. This sub-project will combine the outcome of the molecular modelling results with the predictions resulting from QSAR models developed within the project. The in vitro studies performed by project partners will be utilized and compared with the in silico results to generate a two way optimisation.
Potential outcomes:
Identification of molecular interactions from docking studies of P-gp with substrates relevant in cosmetics and other substances of concern within the project.
Combination of QSAR prediction results with the molecular modelling outcome in order to integrate in vitro and in silico data.
Implementation of the tools for chemical safety assessment of project related compounds and models.
Funding Notes
The positions are subjected to the eligibility criteria of the European Union’s Marie Skłodowska-Curie ITN programme, which include the following:
• Applicants will have already received the appropriate qualifation (e.g. Masters Degree) allowing to commence a PhD, before employment.
• Applicants must have no longer than 4 years of research experience following that degree.
• Applicants can not already hold a PhD.
• Applicants can be of any nationality but must not have worked, studied, or carried out their main activity for more than 12 months during the previous 36 months (from time of employment) in the host's country.
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