15 PhD Positions in Metabolic Disease within the MEDIculous REMeDy MSCA Doctoral Network

MEDIculous REMeDy offers 15 fully funded Doctoral positions across three research topics:

• Topic 1: Molecular Mechanisms of Disease Heterogeneity (Projects 1 - 5)
  • DC1: Mitochondrial tRNAs and the Epigenetic Legacy of Fathers: From Fertilization to Disease (Supervisor: Raffaele Teperino, Helmholtz Munich, Germany)
  • DC2: Functional Dissection of Monogenic Diabetes Variants Using Stem Cell -Derived Pancreatic Islet Cells (Supervisor: Diego Balboa, University of Helsinki, Finland)
  • DC3: Unraveling Fat-Muscle Crosstalk in the Pathogenesis of Cardiometabolic Disease (Supervisor: Emma Börgeson, University of Aarhus, Denmark)
  • DC4: Decoding Brain-Metabolism Interactions in Gestational Diabetes and Postpartum Vulnerability (Supervisor: Roberta Haddad, IDIBAPS, Spain)
  • DC5: Understanding the role of the “Dark Genome” in Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy (Supervisor: Lila Allou, Imperial College London, UK)
• Topic 2: Markers and Targets of Disease Heterogeneity (Projects 6 - 11)
  • DC6: From Risk to Opportunity: Dissecting the Heterogeneity of Childhood Obesity and Early Metabolic Complications (Supervisor: Antje Körner, University of Leipzig, Germany)
  • DC7: Mechanisms of Weight Defence: Leveraging Overfeeding Models to Uncover Protective Pathways in Obesity (Supervisor: Christoffer Clemmensen, University of Copenhagen, Denmark)
  • DC8: Investigating the Regulation of Adipocyte Lipid Cycling and its Impact on Metabolic Health and T2D Remission (Supervisor: William Scott, Imperial College London, UK)
  • DC9: Fibrotic Adipose Tissue Atlas (FATA): Mapping and Targeting Fibroblast Foci in Metabolic Disease (Supervisor: Adrian Fischer, Helmholtz Munich, Germany)
  • DC10: Glycan Signatures of Fibrotic Brain Tissue (Supervisor: Thomas Klaric, Genos, Croatia)
  • DC11: Artificial Intelligence for Metabolically-induced multi-Organ Fibrosis Identification (AIM-OF) (Supervisor: Ruxandra Stoean, West University of Timişoara, Romania)
• Topic 3: Unravelling and Targeting Treatment Response Heterogeneity (Projects 12 - 15)
  • DC12: Akkermansia muciniphila in Children and Adolescents with T1D and Overweight/Obesity – a randomized study (Supervisor: Agnieszka Szypowska, Medical University of Warsaw, Poland)
  • DC13: Targeted Immunotherapy for T1D Using Bifunctional Treg -Recruiting or Immune- Suppressive Proteins (Supervisor: Roman Jerala, National Institute of Chemistry, Slovenia)
  • DC14: Self-stigma in Metabolic Bariatric Surgery (Supervisor: Anja Hilbert, University of Leipzig, Germany)
  • DC15: Mitochondrial lipid metabolism as an interventional target for prompting healthy liver (Supervisor: Laura Formentini, Autonomous University of Madrid, Spain)

Detailed description of the offered projects and the planned secondments can be found on the MEDIculous REMeDy website.

All MSCA Doctoral Network participants must fulfill the eligibility criteria listed below:

• Doctoral Candidate Status: Applicants must not hold a doctoral degree or have successfully defended a doctoral thesis.
• Mobility Rule: Maximum 12 months’ residence or main activity in the recruitment country during the 36 months before recruitment (latest start planned for Oct 2027) is allowed.
• Enrolment: Applicants must hold a relevant Master’s degree (or equivalent) and be eligible for doctoral enrolment at the host university.

MEDIculous REMeDy Requirements and Qualifications:

• Relevant Master’s degree and strong academic performance; international or intersectoral experience is an advantage.
• Proficiency in written and spoken English.
• Strong motivation for metabolic health research and willingness to work in an international, multidisciplinary team.
• Willingness and ability to travel across Europe for mandatory secondments and Network Training Events (twice per year).
• Specific institutional requirements are listed under each project description on the website.