Postdoc on EV-mediated CRISPR-Cas9 delivery

at  Universiteit Utrecht

CRISPR-Cas9 can be employed to create dsDNA breaks, generate precise mutations, or incorporate specific sequences, regulate RNA transcription. One major hurdle in the development of Cas9-based therapies is the intracellular delivery of Cas9-sgRNA complexes. To address this challenge, your project will focus on the development of extracellular vesicle-mediated strategies for CRISPR-Cas9 delivery, and apply these strategies to integrate DNA sequences into target cells.

YOUR QUALITIES

We are looking for a candidate who meets (several of) the following requirements:

• a PhD in the field of Biology, Biomedical Sciences, Pharmaceutical Sciences, or related fields (or close to graduation);
• a background in at least one of the following areas: CRISPR-Cas, extracellular vesicles, cell biology, cloning / protein engineering, or virology;
• preferably experience with cell culture and analysis (e.g. Western Blot, Microscopy, Flow Cytometry, and/or qPCR);
• excellent communicative skills in English, both in writing and speech;
• excited to collaborate with both academic and industrial research partners.

ABOUT US

A better future for everyone. This ambition motivates our scientists in executing their leading research and inspiring teaching. At Utrecht University, the various disciplines collaborate intensively towards major strategic themes. Our focus is on Dynamics of Youth, Institutions for Open Societies, Life Sciences and Pathways to Sustainability. Sharing science, shaping tomorrow.
At the Faculty of Science, there are six departments to make a fundamental connection with: Biology, Chemistry, Information and Computing Sciences, Mathematics, Pharmaceutical Sciences, and Physics. Each of these is made up of distinct institutes that work together to focus on answering some of humanity’s most pressing problems. More fundamental still are the individual research groups – the building blocks of our ambitious scientific projects. Find out more about us on YouTube.
The Pharmaceutics division is one of five divisions within the Utrecht Institute for Pharmaceutical Sciences and is an internationally renowned top-research group in the field of drug delivery. The core activity of the department is the design and pre-clinical testing of tailor-made drug delivery systems for site-specific, time- and/or rate-controlled delivery of small molecular weight drugs, therapeutic proteins, nucleic acids (including DNA and siRNA), and antigens for therapy and prevention of life-threatening diseases such as cancer, inflammation, and infectious diseases. The Pharmaceutics team consists of scientists from all over the world who like to work in a multidisciplinary environment in which fundamental research and applied sciences are interconnected.

Please refer the Job description for details