PhD Internship for EUGLOH program

Keywords: Public Health, Biomedical Sciences, Toxicology

Internship Duration: 30/11/-1 - 30/11/-1

Nanomaterials are increasingly used in a variety of applications, and plenty of nano-enabled products are already placed on the market. Nanomaterials often display novel and enhanced features compared to conventional materials, raising concerns about their safety. Genotoxicity testing represents an important step in the safety assessment of a substance, being required for regulatory purposes.
The comet assay is an indicator test for detection of DNA damage that is recommended by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to assess genotoxicity in vivo. This assay has proved to be a sensitive and relatively simple method to study specific DNA lesions such as single and double-strand breaks, oxidation and alkylation lesions or crosslinks, and so far, it is one the most used assay in nanogenotoxicology. Moreover, by incorporating a step of digestion of DNA with lesion-specific endonucleases (e.g., formamidopyrimidine DNA glycosylase (FPG) to recognize oxidized purines), makes it possible to measure oxidized bases and to monitor oxidative stress.
We are offering a six-month internship to a Doctoral student for carrying out a study on the in vitro DNA damaging potential of nanomaterials, in the framework of his/her PhD project. The internee will learn how to handle and disperse nanomaterials’ suspensions according to harmonized Standard Operating Procedures and will become familiar with the most advanced techniques for in vitro toxicity assessment of nanomaterials, with a special focus on the evaluation of DNA damage using a medium-throughput comet assay.
Requirements: Very good academic record; good writing and presentation skills; good social and organizational skills; very good proficiency in spoken and written English.
Previous training in cell culture and/or in vitro testing of nanomaterials will be valued but are not a requirement.
Applications should include the following information: i) a cover letter, including a description of your research interests and motivation for this project, ii) a curriculum vitae, iii) an official transcript of grades issued by your home institution and iv) list of three references.
For other opportunities or additional information, please contact the supervisor.

Our Lab investigates how nanomaterials interact with biological systems, behave inside organisms, and modify biochemical processes and cell function. Our goal is to generate sound knowledge that can contribute to the prevention of potential adverse health effects of exposure to nanomaterials, to the revision of their regulation, and to the design of more efficient, sustainable and safe nanomaterials. Using biochemical, molecular biology, and imaging tools, in vitro and in vivo mechanistic studies are carried out to assess various aspects related to internalisation, cytotoxicity, genotoxicity and genomic and non-genomic responses associated with exposure to nanomaterials in different models.

1. Bessa MJ et al. (2021). Toxicity assessment of industrial engineered and airborne process-generated nanoparticles in a 3D human airway epithelial in vitro model. Nanotoxicology 18:1-16. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/17435390.2021.1897698
2. Brandão F et al. (2021). Genotoxicity and gene expression in the rat lung tissue following instillation and inhalation of different variants of amorphous silica nanomaterials (aSiO2 NM). Nanomaterials, 11(6), 1502; DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/nano11061502
3. Bessa MJ et al. (2019). Optimization of the harvesting and freezing conditions of human cell lines for DNA damage analysis by the alkaline Comet assay. Mutat Res Genet Toxicol Environ Mutagen 45:40

• Medicine and health sciences, Veterinary science
• Pharmacy, Biology, Physics and Chemistry