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The Marie SkłodowskaCurie Postdoctoral Fellowship programmein brief

Eligibility criteria – General

Eligibility criteria – Researchers

Applicants who have defended their doctoral thesis but who have not yet formally been awarded the doctoral degree are considered as postdoctoral and eligible to apply. The successful defencemust be unconditional (no further requirements/corrections that need to be addressed) and take place before the call deadline.

How to apply

We encourage all motivated and eligible postdoctoral researchers to send their expressions of interest at brindusa.dragoi@yahoo.com(Dr. Dragoi) and rstiufiuc@gmail.com(Prof. Stiufiuc) not later than 21 July 2024.

Your application shall include:

Research field

Nanomedicine (preferable for oncology)

Candidate(s) expertise

Nanomedicine is strongly inter- and multidisciplinary, and thus candidates with backgrounds in Chemistry, Biology, Medicine or other research areas relevant for nanomedicineare expected. Skills in development of nanomaterials with focus on synthesis, physico-chemical characterization, in vitro evaluation on cell cultures will be a plus in the selection process.

NOTE: The applicant(s) will be mainly responsible for developing and writing their own proposal, but they will benefit from the fully support of their supervisors. In addition, the applicant(s) will receive the valued support from the National Contact Point (NCP@UEFISCDI) aiming to write a competitive proposal at the standards required the by the European Commission.

Department

TRANSCEND is the research unit of the Regional Institute of Oncology Iasi, Romania, and is committed to thecreation of an interdisciplinary platform capable of generating scientific knowledge with high translational potential in clinical practice. Two interconnected research areas produce a unique translational hub: molecular medicine and nuclear medicine. The molecular medicine includes activities focused on molecular biology, cell cultures, cytogenetics and molecular genetics, proteomics, molecular imaging and bioinformatics.

Since 2021, a very prestigious H2020-ERA-Chair project focused on developing Nanomedicine(www.esei-biomed-eu) is running in the department, which allowed the establishment of a new Laboratory - Nanotechnology Lab. The new lab is equipped with a professional automated jacked glass reactor for nanoparticles synthesis from Syrris(UK), a microfluidic system for liposomes preparation from ElveFlow(France), a DLS equipment for in situ and ex-situ measurements of size and Zeta Potential from CorduanTechnologies (France) and other small equipment needed for development of organic and inorganic nanoparticles for medicine (https://tinyurl.com/yckupce4).

Previous experience in Marie Curie calls  

Under the umbrella of the ERA-Chair project, the first application for the Marie Skłodowska-Curie postdoctoral fellowship was submitted under the call HORIZON-MSCA-2022-PF-01-01. The proposal received the Seal of Excellence.

Supervisors

The Postdoctoral Fellow will be co-supervised by Prof. Dr. Habil. RaresSTIUFIUC and Dr. Brindusa DRAGOI

Prof. Rares STIUFIUC is the ERA-Chair holder of the ESEI-BioMed project. His research area is mainly focused on the advancement of new early detection techniques mainly based on ultrasensitive vibrational spectroscopy such as RAMAN/SERS performed on biofluids. He is also involved in  development of different types of multifunctional nanohybrids (magnetic, plasmonic & magnetoplasmonicnanoparticles, nanoliposomes, quantum dots, etc.) for biomedical applications such as targeted drug delivery, cancer treatment, biodetection, etc.

Dr. Brindusa DRAGOI is Senior Research Scientist and the coordinator of the Nanotechnology Lab and ERA-Chair project ESEI-BioMed. Her research area includes development of (nano)particles (layered double hydroxides, magnetic nanparticles, liposomes, microemulsions) for cancer therapy and diagnosis.

Time frame

Deadline for sending an expression of interest at the mentors - 21 July 2024
Opening the platform for application - 05 August 2024
Closing the platform for application - 05 September 2024 (23.59h CEST)
MSCA-PF 2023 call deadline - 11 September 2024
Evaluation and selection process- October 2024 – February 2025
(in case a two-stage evaluation process is being implemented): The outcomes of the first stage of the evaluation will be communicated. - December 2024
Fellowship offers - March 2025
Expected start of the fellowships. In duly justified cases, decided on a case-by-case basis, a later start may be agreed - April – June 2025
Applicants from the reserve list will be offered funding should any awarded fellowship offers be declined, until all available funds have been disbursed - May-November 2025