About the Project
The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) is a private, self-financing, not-for-profit medical and surgical college headquartered in Dublin (Ireland) with global reach through its overseas medical universities and health care centres in the Middle East, the Far East and Africa. Since its foundation in 1784, it has played a leadership role in Irish surgical and medical education. Currently, it operates the largest Medical School in Ireland and provides undergraduate education in Physiotherapy, Pharmacy, and Nursing. In addition to Surgery, it also provides postgraduate training and education in Radiology, Dentistry, Nursing & Midwifery, Sports and Exercise Medicine, Healthcare Management and Leadership, and has an Institute of Research.
DESCRIPTION:
Expressions of Interest are invited for three Clement Archer Scholar positions in the RCSI School of Pharmacy. As part of this role, the successful applicants will each be registered for a funded PhD, with the School covering the tuition fees and providing an annual stipend of €18,000. An international travel grant of €1,500 is also included to support an international excursion undertaken throughout the research study.
Scholar activities will include a combination of laboratory/practical demonstrations, tutorials, lecturing, supervision of undergraduate research students, outreach activities, assessment and correcting. Some or all of these activities will comprise a maximum of 1.5 days per week during each academic term.
Project Description
Depression affects 350 million people globally and current treatment options are insufficient given their limited therapeutic efficacy in many patients. Indeed, currently available antidepressants show an efficacy rate of just 70% leaving many patients with an unmet clinical need. These antidepressant resistant patients represent a subset of the depressed population for whom current medications developed using the monoamine hypothesis of depression prove ineffective and for whom new therapeutic avenues must be pursued.
While the aetiology of depression is incompletely understood, a number of risk factors have been identified, including genetic, epigenetic, environmental and endocrine. One such endocrine disorder is type II diabetes. Type II diabetes has been shown to co-occur with depression with epidemiological evidence pointing to a bi-directional relationship. A diagnosis of type II diabetes increases both the risk of depression and the severity of the disease course while also predisposing the patient to treatment resistant depression.
As a multi-factorial disease, depression is an ideal candidate for multi-functional compound drug therapy. Multi-functional drug compounds confer a number of distinct clinical advantages, including, of particular importance to the manifestation of depression, synergistic therapeutic responses. The development of a new hybrid molecule that successfully addresses the complexity of depression pathophysiology should greatly assist in alleviating symptoms in patients with a diagnosis of depression, including those in whom depressive symptoms do not remit in spite of appropriate drug therapy with standard anti-depressant medication.
Therefore, the overarching aim of this project is to synthesise and pharmacologically using in vivo electrophysiological and behavioural models evaluate a completely new class of antidepressant with dual functionality, having two distinct pharmacophores, a moiety which behaves akin to a standard antidepressant, and a moiety which alters glucose handling. This new therapeutic class with synergistic biological activity we predict will offer a new treatment path for depressed patients in whom current treatment options are sub-optimal. This strategy has been validated in several potential therapeutic applications, with diverse molecular frameworks, including in the laboratory of the supervisors.
The successful candidate will join the multi-disciplinary Neuropharmacology Research Group whose research focus is on enhancing our scientific understanding of treatment resistant depression, through which new therapeutic options are developed which can make a meaningful difference to patients.
PERSON SPECIFICATION:
• A primary degree in pharmacy is preferable but not a necessity.
• Applications are invited from enthusiastic and highly motivated individuals with a keen interest in a relevant area of Pharmacy research.
• English language requirements for candidates who do not speak English as a first language: an overall IELTS score of 6.5.
• Candidates should display:
- A good knowledge base, with evidence of interest in their research area of choice
- A capacity for independent thinking
- A professional work ethic
- The ability to organise themselves
- A willingness to learn
- Innovation and creativity
- Excellent interpersonal, communication and presentation skills
- A capacity to work collaboratively as part of a team as well as independently, in a nonstructured environment o Attention to detail, thoroughness in work practices and an ability to work to deadlines
APPLICATION PROCEDURE:
Applications for this post must be made via the RCSI Careers website at http://www.rcsi.ie/careers
Closing date for receipt of applications is 5pm on Monday, April 30th 2018. Please include a CV and a detailed covering letter outlining your suitability for this role and specifying your project of interest.
Queries:
• For any queries relating to the application process, please contact Judy Walsh in the RCSI HR department on +353-1-402-2440 or by email at [Email Address Removed]
• Ms. Walsh can arrange for relevant queries on the academic aspects of the role to be addressed by Prof. Paul Gallagher (Head of School).
Continue with Facebook
