PhD fellowship in Microbiology and Immunology

We are offering a fully funded PhD fellowship in Microbiology and Immunology commencing 1 May 2025 or after agreement.

Our group and research
The Parasites, Immunology and Gut Health (PIGH) group applies animal models and in vitro cell culture techniques to explore host-pathogen-microbiome interactions and nutritional immunology. The group is a multidisciplinary team embedded within the Department of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, with close links to other sections working on diseases, food chemistry, natural product chemistry, and the gut microbiome. Our aims are to develop novel therapies to prevent infection and disease in animals and humans. The group is international in nature, and the daily working language is English.

Project description

The role of nutrition and dietary components in regulating mucosal immune function is becoming a new and exciting research area. Our group is interested in how dietary components and the gut microbiota interact to regulate immunity at mucosal surfaces, which is critical for protection against pathogens but can also cause pathologies such as IBD when dysregulated.

The PhD project will focus on polyphenols, a class of common dietary compounds with putative health benefits. We aim to determine how polyphenols interact with gut bacteria to produce metabolites with immunomodulatory activity. We will use molecular microbiology, transcriptomics, and gene editing to uncover metabolic pathways involved in polyphenol breakdown. Finally, we will use mouse models of bacterial and parasitic infection to determine if synbiotic treatment with polyphenols and defined bacteria enhances mucosal immunity to infection. Full training will be provided. The PhD student will also contribute to teaching in the section.

The project is a collaboration with the Phage and Quorum Sensing group lead by Associate Professor Nina Molin Høyland-Kroghsbo at the Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, and the PhD student will work in both research groups. Moreover, the project will involve an international stay of several months at the University of California, Davis, USA, which will take place at the beginning of the PhD.

Principal supervisor is Associate Professor Andrew Williams, Department of Veterinary and Animal Sciences. arw@sund.ku.dk   +45 3138 3122 

Start:                 1 May 2025

Duration:          3 years

Job description
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, likely abroad.
• 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. Microbiology, Immunology, Biology, Biotechnology.  Please note that your master’s degree must be equivalent to a Danish master’s degree (two years).

Other important criteria are:

• Ability to multi-task.
• Fluency in written and spoken English.
• Ability to work both independently and as part of a team.
• A desire to contribute to a great working environment.
• High level of self-motivation.
• Experience or interest in working with experimental animals.
• Demonstrated experience with any of the following techniques is desirable but not essential: Bacterial transformation and cloning, qPCR, flow cytometry, handling of transcriptomic and/or metabolomics data.

Place of employment

The place of employment is at the Department of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen. We offer creative and stimulating working conditions in a dynamic and international research environment. Our research facilities include modern laboratories and facilities for experimental animal studies.

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

The position is a fixed-term position limited to a period of 3 years. The start date is 1 May 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.

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 Finance 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 applicable)

5. Reference letters (if any)

Application deadline: 26 January 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 themself.

You find information about the recruitment process at: https://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.

Interviews are expected to be held in week 10 and 11 (3 March to 14 March 2025).

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