PhD fellowship Marie Curie in Nuclear Metabolism

Novo Nordisk Center for Stem Cell Medicine – reNEW
Department of Biomedical Sciences
Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences
University of Copenhagen

Within the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action (MSCA), University of Copenhagen is offering one PhD fellowship for a Doctoral Candidate (DC), starting September 1, 2025, or as soon as possible hereafter. 

The position is for 36 months and is funded by Horizon Europe. NUCLEAR is a MSCA Doctoral Network. The mission of NUCLEAR is to educate future experts that can drive the emerging field of Metabolic Regulation of Genome Function and Cell Identity relevant for stem cell biology and cancer.

More information may be found on the Nuclear home page https://nuclear-dn.eu.

The project aims to achieve breakthroughs by:

1. Developing tools for the detection of metabolism in the nucleus and to enable its interpretation.
2. Understanding how metabolism regulates functions of the chromatin template, including specific gene regulation.
3. Testing metabolism-chromatin interactions as targetable vulnerabilities in cancer cells.

Nuclear will deliver a training program to 16 Doctoral Candidates that equips them with all capabilities to become leaders of tomorrow's R&I in Europe.

Project description
The successful applicant will join a multidisciplinary EU-funded Marie Skłodowska-Curie International PhD training network. This doctoral position is based at the Novo Nordisk Center for Stem Cell Medicine – reNEW, Department of Biomedical Sciences at University of Copenhagen (UCPH). 

The Doctoral Candidate will be supervised by Associate Professor Jan Jakub Zylicz. The group works with early mammalian development and the focus areas are how complex metabolic regulatory pathways affect chromatin and gene expression. Specifically, we need to understand the function of metabolic enzymes within the nucleus. This PhD project will focus on the function of metabolic enzymes linked to acetyl-CoA production and thus fuelling histone acetylation. 

Main supervisor 
Associate Professor Jan Jakub Zylicz 
Email: jan.zylicz@sund.ku.dk  

About the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Stem Cell Medicine reNEW
The Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Stem Cell Medicine, reNEW has its Hub at the University of Copenhagen (UCPH) as well as nodes at UCPH, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute and Leiden University Medical Center. Researchers within reNEW Copenhagen addresses fundamental questions in stem cell and developmental biology and will pivot research findings to clinical outcomes and products.

Job description
Your key tasks as a PhD fellow at the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences are to:

• 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

Required qualifications
As an applicant you must have:

• Qualifications corresponding to a master’s degree related to the subject area of the project (biology, biotechnology, biochemistry or similar). Please note that your master’s degree must be equivalent to a Danish master’s degree.
• Fluency in English and excellent communication skills 

Applicants will also be required to meet the European Commission’s MSCA Doctoral Network eligibility criteria, notably:

• Mobility Rule - Applicants can be of any nationality and must not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in Denmark for more than 12 months in the 36 months immediately before the start of their employment at UCPH. Compulsory national service, short stays such as holidays, and time spent as part of a procedure for obtaining refugee status under the Geneva Convention are not considered.
• Doctoral Candidate requirement – the applicant must not be in possession of a doctoral degree at the first day of the employment. Researchers who have successfully defended their doctoral thesis but who have not yet been awarded the doctoral degree are not eligible.

Please note that you will only be considered for the position if you fulfil both above eligibility criteria.

Preferred qualifications

• Documented hands-on experience with pluripotent stem cells is beneficial.
• Working knowledge of stem cell biology, epigenetics and/or metabolism is advantageous.
• Highly motivated and ambitious candidates are encouraged to apply. The position requires solid previous laboratory work experience.
• A solution-oriented, organizational and positive mindset is required. The ability to work in a highly collaborative international environment both independently and as part of the team is essential. 

Key criteria for the assessment of applicants

• Professional qualifications relevant to the PhD project
• Relevant work experience
• Publications
• The grade point average achieved
• Other professional activities
• Language skills
• The successful applicant is also required to be enterprising and to possess good   interpersonal skills

Place of employment
The place of employment is at the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Stem Cell Medicine – reNEW, Department of Biomedical Sciences, 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, access to state-of-the-art technologies in genomics and imaging. We offer a stimulating, challenging and multifaceted research environment with a supportive team to work and collaborate with.

Terms of employment
The employment as PhD fellow is full time and limited to a period of 3 years. The start date is September 1, 2025, or after agreement.

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

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 requirements from the European Commission related to the MSCA programme and 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.

The EU MSCA grant consists of a monthly living allowance of EUR DKK 4,488 (approx. DKK 33,400), and a monthly mobility allowance of EUR 600 (approx. DKK 4,470). In addition, a family allowance of EUR 495 (approx. DKK 3,690) may apply if eligibility conditions are fulfilled. The above amounts shall cover compulsory taxes etc. as well as all the University of Copenhagen’s costs related to your employment, such as monthly salary, future salary raises, pension, paid holidays and labour market contributions. Therefore, the gross monthly salary you will receive will be lower than the monthly allowances received by the University of Copenhagen. 

Questions
For further information, applicants may contact the main supervisor Jan Zylicz at email jan.zylicz@sund.ku.dk. 

Application procedure
Only applications submitted both during the general NUCLEAR call (https://nuclear-dn.eu/) as well as through University of Copenhagen recruitment page will be considered.

Your application at the University of Copenhagen, written in English, must be submitted electronically by clicking “Apply now” below and must include the following documents in PDF format:

• Motivated letter of application (max. one page) 
• CV incl. education, experience, language skills and other skills relevant for the position
• 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
• Applicants with a master´s degree from abroad should also enclose a short description of the grading scale used
• Publication list (if relevant)
• Other information to consider: References and recommendations (if possible)

The deadline for applications is March 17, 2025, at 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 authorised 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 can comment on the part of the assessment that relates to him/herself.

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

You may read about the recruitment process at https://employment.ku.dk/faculty/recruitment-process/.

For more information on working and living in Denmark visit http://ism.ku.dk (International Staff Mobility) and https://www.workindenmark.dk.
 
The University of Copenhagen wishes to reflect the diversity of society and encourages all qualified candidates to apply regardless of personal background.