BACKGROUND

The Nutrigenomics Research Group from the Rovira i Virgili University (http://www.urv.cat/en_index.html) in Tarragona (http://www.tarragonaturisme.cat) is formed by a multidisciplinary team that uses omics and bioinformatics with the aim of understanding, at the molecular level, how the metabolism can be affected by nutrients. The team is directed by Prof. Lluís Arola and the PhD will be done under the supervision of Dr Gerard Pujadas and Dr Santi Garcia-Vallvé. The group labs are located at the Chemistry (http://www.quimica.urv.cat) and Oenology (http:// http://www.fe.urv.cat) faculties at the Sescelades campus in Tarragona. That location is close to one of the most important research environments in the scope of Health & Nutrition in southern Europe [i.e. the Technological Center in Health and Nutrition (http://www.ctns.cat/eng/) and the Tecnoparc (http://www.tecnoparc.com)]. The computational facilities available in our group include state-of-art commercial software such as the Schrödinger 2009 suite (http://www.schrodinger.com), Sybyl (http://www.tripos.com), LigandScout (http://www.inteligand.com/ligandscout) and Discovery studio (http://accelrys.com/products/discovery-studio).

RESPONSIBILITIES

The group is seeking highly motivated candidates for a PhD position. The research project is entitled “Applications of bioinformatics to the design of functional foods” and aims to identify natural molecules that can be added to food in order to prevent or fight against diseases that have their genesis in chronic inflammation processes. In this project context, the tasks assigned to this PhD position will be related with data mining and the development of new software tools and databases.

REQUIREMENTS

The successful candidate should hold a degree in computer sciences and a master's degree of at least 60 ECTS that proves previous training on fundamental concepts of molecular biology and/or bioinformatics. It is also required that the number of ECTS that corresponds to the degree, the master and other official courses hold by the candidate is, at least, 300 ECTS.

TERMS

4-years starting between September and October 2009. The fellowship will be renewable on a yearly basis (and after a positive evaluation of the group leader) and will be on a 2+2 years schema. Therefore the first two years will be covered by a grant and the two last years through an employment contract.

SALARY & COMPENSATION

Each fellowship provides around 12000 € gross per year during the grant period and around 14000 € gross per year during the contract period.

HOW TO APPLY

Please send a complete CV, including academic record, to gerard.pujadas[at]urv.cat jointly with the email address of at least one person who may be asked for reference on the application.

DEADLINE: 17th September 2009