Applications are invited for 15 PhD positions (Early Stage Researchers (ESRs)) to be funded by the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Innovative Training Network “MAGICBULLET”.
The ESR positions are available at the following institutions:

- Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany
- Università degli Studi dell’Insubria, Como, Italy
- Eötvös Lorand University, Budapest, Hungary
- University of Helsinki, Helsini, Finland
- Universita’ degli Studi di Milano, Milano, Italy
- University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
- National Institute of Oncology, Budapest, Hungary
- Heidelberg Pharma, Ladenburg, Germany
- Exiris, Roma, Italy

The ETN MAGICBULLET will focus on chemistry-driven approaches toward conjugates between peptides (delivery vectors) that recognize tumors and anticancer drugs (payloads or warheads) in order to selectively fight cancer, a topic with a high demand of research activities.

The ETN MAGICBULLET will 1) identify, modify, and validate tumor-selective peptides for known and new cell surface receptor targets (e.g. integrins, VEGFR, cadherins); 2) study different linker systems for release of the anticancer payloads at the appropriate site; 3) conjugate known and new anticancer agents or drugs to tumor-selective peptides; 4) investigate the biological activity in vitro and in vivo to demonstrate their efficacy. The combination of an array of tumor-selective peptides targeting different receptors and different uptake mechanisms with diverse antitumor drugs acting on different cellular targets is a powerful strategy to minimize potential risks and increase the efficacy. Because the number of receptors on tumor cells is limited, the combination of different target peptide – drug conjugates may enhance the bioactivity. The influence of the treatment schedule of such combination therapy on the antitumor activity will also be evaluated.

The ETN MAGICBULLET consortium covers fields of tumour biology, biochemistry, pharmacology, synthetic chemistry, medicinal chemistry, spectroscopy, conformational analysis, and computational chemistry.

Further details:
http://academicpositions.eu