PhD fellowships at the Center for Gene Expression

Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine

Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences

University of Copenhagen

We are offering 2 or more PhD fellowships in transcriptional regulation at the DNRF Center of Excellence, Center for Gene Expression (CGEN) in the Svejstrup, Gregersen, Bekker-Jensen, or Haahr group within the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine (ICMM), at the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen.

Before entering the 3-year fellowship, the successful candidates will have an initial employment as a research assistant for 6 months scheduled to start May 15, 2025 or after agreement.

Our center and research
CGEN is an interdisciplinary research center consisting of 4 research groups located in modern laboratories in the Mærsk Tower at the Panum Institute

The mission of the CGEN is to use a cutting-edge ensemble of genetic, cell biological, biochemical, organismal, and modern ‘omic’-approaches to achieve a comprehensive understanding of the process of gene expression.

CGEN performs ground-breaking research in a collaborative and ambitious environment, where young researchers are offered the best conditions to engage in bold and imaginative research. CGEN is also a center of learning, where PhD-students will receive a comprehensive education in the cellular processes underlying gene expression, as well as a clear view of their medical importance and potential for a future research career.

Information on the Svejstrup Group can be found at: https://icmm.ku.dk/english/research-groups/svejstrup-group/

Information on the Gregersen Group can be found at: https://icmm.ku.dk/english/research-groups/gregersen-group/

Information on the Bekker-Jensen Group can be found at: https://icmm.ku.dk/english/research-groups/bekker-jensen-group/

Information on the Haahr Group can be found at: https://icmm.ku.dk/english/research-groups/haahr-group/

Information on CGEN can be found at: https://cgen.ku.dk/

Information on the department can be found at: https://icmm.ku.dk/english/

Project description

The project will be decided in consultation with the student but will be focused broadly on understanding the process of gene expression. CGEN addresses fundamental questions in this field at the leading edge of science and aims to dramatically expand our knowledge of the processes, signals and factors allowing a gene to be transcribed while integrating with protein synthesis, so that the overall integrity of gene expression is maintained. Among the overarching questions we address are the following:

• What are the mechanisms coupling transcription and mRNA processing?
• How is the state of mRNA translation, including the dramatic changes elicited by stress, signaled back to the transcription machinery, i.e., how is translation and transcription reciprocally regulated?
• How does RNA polymerase II (RNAPII) associated factors affect transcription dynamics? And is this coupled to changes in mRNA translation?
• What is the role of non-coding RNA, produced by transcription, in regulating mRNA translation?
• What are the physiologically relevant obstacles to gene expression, and what are the physiological and pathological ramifications of such problems at the organismal level?

Principal supervisor may be one of the following

Professor Jesper Q. Svejstrup, CGEN, ICMM, [email protected]

Associate Professor, Lea H. Gregersen, CGEN, ICMM, [email protected]

Professor Simon Bekker-Jensen, CGEN, ICMM, [email protected]

Associate Professor Peter Haahr, CGEN, ICMM, [email protected]

Start: May 15, 2025, or soon thereafter

Duration: 6 months as research assistant + 3 years as a PhD student

Job description
During the first 6 months as a research assistant, the candidate will formulate a PhD project, help with research tasks, become familiar with the group’s research interests, and apply for enrollment as a PhD fellow.

Your key tasks as a PhD student at SUND are:

• Carrying through an independent research project under supervision.

• Completing PhD courses or other equivalent education corresponding to approximately 30 ECTS points.
• Participating in active research environments including a stay at another research team.
• Obtaining experience with teaching or other types of dissemination related to your PhD project
• Teaching and disseminating your knowledge.
• Writing a PhD thesis on the grounds of your project

Key criteria for the assessment of applicants
Applicants must have qualifications corresponding to a master’s degree related to the subject area of the project, e.g. biology, biochemistry, molecular biomedicine, bioinformatics or similar. Please note that your master’s degree must be equivalent to a Danish master’s degree (two years).

We are looking for a highly motivated and enthusiastic scientist with the following competencies and experience:

Essential experience and skills:

• You have a master’s degree in biology, biochemistry, molecular biomedicine, bioinformatics or similar
• Curious mind-set with a strong interest in transcription and/or mRNA translation
• A highly collaborative mindset and ability to work independently.
• Fluency in English and excellent written and oral communication skills.

Desirable experience and skills:

• A background in transcriptional regulation and/or co-transcriptional processing and/or mRNA translation
• Previous experience in molecular biology techniques and mammalian tissue culture
• Experience with CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing
• Experience with next generation sequencing and RNA-seq analysis

Place of employment

The place of employment is at the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, Panum, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen. We offer creative and stimulating working conditions in dynamic and international research environment. Our research facilities include modern laboratories located in the Mærsk tower with access to state-of-the-art facilities for cell engineering, next-generation sequencing, flow cytometry, and mass spectrometry.

Scientific environment

CGEN and the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine (ICMM) offer an ambitious scientific environment, with many different nationalities represented. We produce research with high international impact focusing on the functional cell, its genetic components and molecular cellular mechanisms in a medical context. ICMM currently comprises five research programmes, three high profile Research Centers (of which CGEN is one) as well as a number of international research groups. The scientists at ICMM are involved in high quality research based undergraduate and graduate teaching programs at the University of Copenhagen. You can read more at https://icmm.ku.dk/english/

Terms of employment
The average weekly working hours are 37 hours per week.

The PhD position is a fixed-term position limited to a period of 3 years. The start date is Maj 15, 2025 or after agreement.

The employment is conditioned upon the applicant’s success­ful enrolment as a PhD student at the Graduate School at the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen. This requires submission and acceptance of an application for the specific project formulated by the applicant during the initial employment as a research assistant.

The PhD study must be completed in accordance with The Ministerial Order on the PhD programme (2013) and the Faculty’s rules on achieving the degree.

Salary, pension and terms of employment are in accordance with the agree­ment between the Ministry of Taxation and The Danish Confederation of Professional Associations on Academics in the State. Depending on seniority, the monthly salary starts at approximately 30,700 DKK/Roughly 4,100 EUR (April-2024 level) plus pension.

Questions
For specific information about the PhD fellowship, please contact the principal supervisor.

General information about PhD studies at the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences is available at the Graduate School’s website: https://healthsciences.ku.dk/phd/guidelines/

Application procedure
Your application must be submitted electronically by clicking ‘Apply now’ below. The application must include the following documents in PDF format:

1. Motivated letter of application (max. one page)

2. CV incl. education, experience, language skills and other skills relevant for the position

3. Certified copy of original Master of Science diploma and transcript of records in the original language, including an authorized English translation if issued in other language than English or Danish. If not completed, a certified/signed copy of a recent transcript of records or a written statement from the institution or supervisor is accepted. As a prerequisite for a PhD fellowship employment, your master’s degree must be equivalent to a Danish master’s degree. We encourage you to read more in the assessment database: https://ufm.dk/en/education/recognition-and-transparency/find-assessments/assessment-database. Please note that we might ask you to obtain an assessment of your education performed by the Ministry of Higher Education and Science

4. Publication list (if possible)

Application deadline: 6 March 2025, 23.59pm CET

We reserve the right not to consider material received after the deadline, and not to consider applications that do not live up to the abovementioned requirements.

The further process
After the expiry of the deadline for applications, the authorized recruitment manager selects applicants for assessment on the advice of the hiring committee. All applicants are then immediately notified whether their application has been passed for assessment by an unbiased assessor.

The assessor makes a non-prioritized assessment of the academic qualifications and experience with respect to the above-mentioned area of research, techniques, skills and other requirements listed in the advertisement.

Once the assessment work has been completed each applicant has the opportunity to comment on the part of the assessment that relates to the applicant him/herself.

You find information about the recruitment process at: http://employment.ku.dk/faculty/recruitment-process/

The applicants will be assessed according to the Ministerial Order no. 242 of 13 March 2012 on the Appointment of Academic Staff at Universities.

The University of Copenhagen wish to reflect the diversity of society and encourage all qualified candidates to apply regardless of personal background.