The Bijvoet Graduate School at Utrecht University offers 11 interdisciplinary PhD student projects in structural biology in the Marie Curie Innovative Doctoral Programme (IDP) ManiFold: Manipulating folding, assembly and disassembly of protein complexes – from molecule to disease. The European Union selected the most innovative doctoral programmes in Europe for funding in the prestigious Marie-Curie Initial Training Networks scheme.
The Manifold fellows will work on significant contributions on some of the most fundamental processes in structural biology. Most fundamental processes in the cell find their basis in protein folding and misfolding events, which in turn are linked to diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, cystic fibrosis, and cancer. Protein folding and assembly are assisted by molecular chaperones and involve cycles of folding/unfolding and assembly/disassembly.
ManiFold offers innovative interdisciplinary training in structural biology, including biophysics, NMR spectroscopy, protein crystallography, proteomics and cell biology, for a selected group of 11 PhD students. ManiFold combines the PhD training programme of the Bijvoet Center in Utrecht, The Netherlands with internships in industry and abroad. The PhD students have the chance to work with one of the 7 ManiFold group leaders (Rolf Boelens, Ineke Braakman, Piet Gros, Albert Heck, Bert Janssen, Antoinette Killian and Stefan Rüdiger (coordinator)), all of who have a strong publication track record in high impact journals.
The School is a dynamic hub of structural biology providing an integrated infrastructure of cutting edge technology, scientific expertise and pioneering training. All 11 research projects focus on one of the central topics in life sciences: Interactions between molecules lead to structures of increasing complexity and ultimately to living organisms and their dynamic relations. Deep understanding of these interactions is one of the most fundamental challenges in the Life Sciences. The collaborative sphere in the Bijvoet Center is instrumental to the ManiFold project, as each PhD student project has an internal collaborator, an international academic partner and an industrial partner. The Bijvoet Center is equipped with a wide range of facilities for structural biology. In 2012 the Dutch government committed €32 Mio to further strengthen the NMR and proteomics facilities of the Bijvoet Center.
Highly motivated and talented students are invited to apply now. The projects start in autumn 2012 in Utrecht. For more information, application procedure and eligibility for Marie Curie ITN training networks please go to: www.ManiFold-itn.nl
