PhD position: Neuro-Immune interactions in the skin in the context of type 2 immunity (m/f/d)
Institute of Molecular Biology gGmbH
Location
Kaiserslautern | Germany
Job description
Thinking of doing your PhD in the Life Sciences? The International PhD Programme (IPP) Mainz is offering talented, young scientists the chance to work on cutting edge research projects within the open call on “Molecular Biomedicine & Ageing” . As an IPP PhD student, you will join a community of exceptional scientists working on diverse topics ranging from how organisms age or how our DNA is repaired, to how epigenetics regulates cellular identity or neural memory.
Aufgaben:
The research group of Johannes Mayer offers the following PhD project:
Type 2 immune signals control a variety of innate and non-immune mechanisms linked to parasite expulsion and toxin inactivation. While highly relevant in the context of evolution, uncontrolled type 2 immune activation has been linked with negative outcomes, such as allergies and immune suppression in many industrialized countries. Local type 2 immune cell circuits play a major role in tissue-specific disease progression and play a prominent role in barrier tissues.
These type 2 immune circuits are controlled by alarmin or neuropeptide signalling and alarmin responses have a strong activating effect on Innate Lymphoid cells (ILC), Dendritic Cells (DC) and T cells. Our preliminary work however suggests neuro-immune signalling plays an important role in defining the homeostatic type 2 signature prominent in healthy skin, while alarmin signalling drives detrimental type 2 immunity.
PhD Project: Defining dermal Neuro-Immune Interactions that drive beneficial and detrimental type 2 immunity Overall Aim: To understand the properties of dermal Neuro-Immune Networks in the context of homeostatic type 2 immune signalling and wound healing vs. neurodermitis associated inflammation.
Cutting-edge techniques, like scRNA-seq, 3D imaging and high dimensional flow cytometry, will be employed to comprehensively characterize the phenotypic and functional properties of dermal Neuro-Immune Networks in the murine skin. Interactions will be validated
in vitro and molecular signalling cascades assessed in important immune cell populations, such as ILC, DC and T cells.
These interactions will be monitored in the context of neurodermitis associated inflammation and transgenic mouse strains will be used to determine the importance of neuropeptide expression and signalling in the context of disease.
If you are interested in this project, please select
Mayer (Neuro) as your group preference in the IPP application platform.
Qualifikationsprofil:
Are you an ambitious, young scientist looking to push the boundaries of research while interacting with colleagues from multiple disciplines and cultures? Then joining the IPP is your opportunity to give your scientific career a flying start!
All you need is:
- Master or equivalent
- Interactive personality & good command of English
- 2 letters of reference
Benefits:
- Exciting, interdisciplinary projects in a lively international environment, with English as our working language
- Advanced training in scientific techniques and professional skills
- Access to our state-of-the-art Core Facilities and their technical expertise
- Fully funded positions with financing until the completion of your thesis
- A lively community of more than 200 PhD students from 44 different countries
For more details on the projects offered and how to apply via our online form, please visit .
The deadline for applications is 17 April 2024. Interviews will take place at IMB in Mainz on 1-3 July 2024.
Starting date: 1 August 2024 - 1 January 2025
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