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

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.

• 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

With the Inselspital, Bern University Hospital, the hospitals Riggisberg, Aarberg, Belp and the Bern Rehabilitation Center Heiligenschwendi, the Insel Gruppe forms the largest full-service medical care system in Switzerland, from cutting-edge medicine to primary care. More than 11,000 employees from 102 nations ensure that our patients are treated according to the latest developments, methods and possibilities in medicine.