肠道微生物细胞外囊泡与更年期脑健康方向博士职位

The Kerttu Saalasti institute of University Oulu, Finland offers a PhD position for a doctoral candidate/MSCA fellow for the project: “ Immunostimulatory potential of gut microbiome-derived bacterial extracellular vesicles from menopausal women.” The position is part of the EU-funded Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Doctoral Network MenoBrain “Brain Health in Menopausal Women” with full-time employment for a duration of 3 years, starting in Novenber/December 2026. The doctoral project will examine whether bacterial extracellular vesicles (bEVs) isolated from stool samples differ according to cognitive performance and menopause-related phenotypes, and how these vesicles activate innate immune pathways relevant to neuroinflammation. In the wider MenoBrain programme, bEVs are studied as candidate biomarkers of menopause-related cognitive decline and as mechanistic mediators of microbiome-brain interactions.​ The work contributes to the network's subtheme on gut microbiome-brain interactions, which combines microbiome profiling, biomarker discovery, metabolic modelling and translational approaches to understand cognitive health in menopause.​

Requirements / required education level / degree: Master Degree or equivalent

Requirements / required education level / discipline: Biological sciences

Requirements / required education level / degree: Master Degree or equivalent

Requirements / required education level / discipline: Computer science

Requirements / skills: Requirements for the applicant: The selected candidate will work on the isolation, characterization and functional analysis of intestinal bEVs from human stool samples. Experimental work will include filtration and gradient ultracentrifugation for vesicle isolation; electron microscopy and nanoparticle tracking analysis for vesicle characterization; RNA isolation and PCR; SDS-PAGE-based protein analysis; cell culture and immunostimulation experiments; and flow cytometry and/or fluorescence-based assays to study Toll-like receptor-mediated immune responses.​ The project also includes broad omics characterization of bEV-associated signatures, including 16S profiling, metabolomics, proteomics and lipidomics, thus offering excellent training opportunities for candidates interested in bioinformatics and multi-omics data integration.​ Very good language skills in English are required.

Requirements / specific requirements: MSCA eligibility (must-have): Please note the eligibility criteria for researchers: Candidates must be in the first four years of his/her research career, not have a doctoral degree, and not have resided in Finland for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately before the recruitment date.

Requirements / required languages / language: ENGLISH

Requirements / required languages / language level: Excellent

Research experience / main research field: Biological sciences

Research experience / years of research experience: None

Research experience / main research field: Computer science

Research experience / years of research experience: None

Additional information / selection process: Interested candidates please send a motivation letter, a CV including publications (if available), copies of university degrees and courses (including obtained grades), and the names and e-mail addresses of two scientists who can provide references (all summarized in one pdf) to menobrain@med.uni-jena.de . Applications that do not meet the profile and/or the above criteria cannot be considered. Preferential treatment will be given to applications received before 15 October 2026. For more information concerning the research project please contact Dr. Justus Reunanen ( justus.reunanen@oulu.fi ).

Additional information / info website: https://www.uniklinikum-jena.de/menobrain/en/Recruitment+_+Open+Calls/DC+15+_+UOULU-p-56.html

Work location / nr job positions: 1

Work location / job organisation institute: University Oulu, Kerttu Saalasti Institute

Work location / job country: Finland

Work location / job city: Nivala

Work location / job postal code: 85500

Work location / job street: Pajatie 5

Hiring contact / organisation institute: University Hospital Jena

Hiring contact / organisation institute type: Public Research Institution

Hiring contact / division faculty: MSCA DN MenoBrain

Hiring contact / country: Germany

Hiring contact / city: Jena

Hiring contact / postal code: 07743

Hiring contact / street: Am Klinikum 1

Hiring contact / e mail: menobrain@med.uni-jena.de

Hiring contact / website: https://www.uniklinikum-jena.de/menobrain/en/Recruitment+_+Open+Calls.html

Application / how to apply: e-mail

Application / application email: menobrain@med.uni-jena.de

EU funding / framework programme: Horizon Europe - MSCA

EU funding / cofund nr job position: 1

EU funding / cofund destination countries: Germany

EU funding / sesam agreement number: 101227102

Research field / main research field: Biological sciences

Researcher profile: First Stage Researcher (R1)

Positions: PhD Positions

Contract: Temporary

Job status: Full-time

Application deadline (as exported; timezone unverified): 2026-10-15T20:00:00