PhD student toxicity of tyre wear particles (f/m/d)

The Pediatric Pneumology Research Group is part of the Lung Precision Medicine (LPM) research program of the Department for  BioMedical Research (DBMR) and is associated with the Division of Paediatric Respiratory Medicine and Allergology at the University Children's Hospital of the Inselspital. We serve as a basic and translational research platform and are involved in research activities covering different respiratory diseases such as primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD), cystic fibrosis (CF), asthma or respiratory viral infections. The DBMR provides state-of-the-art equipment, well maintained in a number of different core facilities.

What you can expect

Every time a vehicle moves, its tires shed tiny rubber particles into the environment due to friction with the road– these are known as tire wear particles (TWPs). These particles can become airborne and, due to their small size, may enter and possibly penetrate the human airway, potentially causing adverse health effects. However, the specific properties that contribute to their toxicity in humans-such as particle size, surface structure, and chemical composition-are not yet well understood. To fill this gap in knowledge, we set up a project to collect TWPs under real-world driving conditions to analyze their physical and chemical properties, as well as their effects on advanced respiratory cell models. Our goal is to identify the toxicity factors and recommend strategies to reduce TWP emissions.

This project "Identification of factors causing toxicity of tire wear particles (TWP) in human respiratory cell models" is funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) and studies the toxicity of TWP in different cellular human airway models (cell lines, co-culture cell line models, primary nasal epithelial cells). The project is a collaboration with the Bern University of Applied Sciences, who will collect the particles that will be used for the toxicity assessment.
This PhD involves a lot of cell culture work and different biological assays to assess the toxicity (e.g. TEER, XTT, LDH, ELISA, ciliary activity, transcriptomics, proteomics). 

Remark: This PhD project focuses on cell cultures and no animal work is required.

Your Profile

• Applicants should have a university degree (MSc or equivalent) in applied science (biology, biomedical sciences, biomedicine etc.) or medicine
• A strong interest in cell culture based and environmental research
• The position requires fluency in English, German and French are not required, but are an advantage
• PhD salary rates of the Swiss National Science Foundation apply

What we offer

The applicant will join the Graduate School for Cellular and Biomedical Sciences (GCB, www.gcb.unibe.ch), an inter-faculty program that offers structured, experimental research training pro-grams leading to a PhD, MD. PhD or DVM. PhD degree.
We offer a challenging and interesting position in a young, dynamic and open-minded research team.
If you are looking for an exciting PhD position in a highly motivated team, we look forward to receiving your application including a letter of motivation by 19.06.2025.