Scholarship-supported Pre-Ph.D. Program in Biochemistry,
Biophysics or Bioinformatics
The Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics (DBB) at Stockholm University
announces a one-year Pre-Ph.D. program for a limited number of highly motivated
and qualified students, who wish to pursue a research carrier in Biochemistry,
Biophysics or Bioinformatics.
DBB houses about twenty research groups with leading research within
Biochemistry, Biophysics and Bioinformatics. The professors include four members of
the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences that awards the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
The scientists at the Department publish about 70 articles in international journals
every year. Within the last 7 years there have been 7 Nature, 6 Science and 36
PNAS publications.
The combination of the highly interdisciplinary expertise and research projects at the
Department is unique in Sweden and also at an international level. This expertise
ranges across cell biology, biochemistry, biophysics and theory. Some specific topics
that are addressed include membrane protein biogenesis, membrane protein
topology & assembly, mitochondria & chloroplasts, protein structure & function,
protein folding & trafficking, lipid biosynthesis & function, energy conversion, DNARNA-PNA interactions, biological nitrogen fixation, viral membrane glycoproteins,
protein structure & disease, bioinformatics, comparative genomics, molecular
evolution, computational structural biology and development of theoretical tools.
The research groups work in close collaboration and are well equipped with excellent
state of the art facilities for experimental and computational life science research.
Presently, 35 postdoctoral fellows or visiting scientists and 90 graduate students from
more than 20 different countries are trained at the Department. The Department is
actively participating in Erasmus exchange programs with 12 European universities.
As recognition of its excellence, the Department houses or is affiliated with several
research centers:
• Center for Biomembrane Research – www.cbr.su.se
• Stockholm Bioinformatics Center – www.sbc.su.se
• Science for Life Laboratory, Stockholm – www.scilifelab.se
• Swedish E-science Research Center – www.e-science.se
The New Pre-PhD Program
The program is aimed at highly motivated and qualified students who want to start a
research career in Biochemistry, Biophysics or Bioinformatics. We encourage
applications from students with a cross-disciplinary research interest. The program
starts with a short theoretical course, followed by two projects (rotations/theses) in
two research groups at the Department. During these projects, the students will have
the opportunity to work directly with challenging research problems. In parallel they
will participate in a course aimed at training for a future scientific career, including
how to write publications and applications. This course is offered uniquely to the
students within this program.
At the end of the year most of the students will have the chance to apply for Ph.D.
programs at the Department. The Department normally accepts about 20 Ph.D.
students each year and we believe that a large fraction of these students will come
from this program in the future.
We are also happy to provide a tax-free scholarship of 9 000 kr/month (for 10
months) to all students within the program. This amount covers normal living
expenses in Stockholm.
Requirements:
180 ECTS at the basic level (equivalent to a bachelor degree), 30 ECTS
(Biochemistry) or 15 ECTS (Biophysics, Bioinformatics) at the advanced level.
How to apply:
The application deadline is May 11, 2014. All complete applications will be scored
and a decision on the outcome will be available in mid-June.
Application is done in two steps:
1. Apply on-line to the course. More information on the general procedure:
https://www.universityadmissions.se/intl/start
A direct link for applying to our Pre-Ph.D. program:
http://sisu.it.su.se/search/info/KB8901/en
2. Send these three documents as pdf-files to the coordinator Dr. Martin Ott
(prePhD@dbb.su.se):
A. A letter of intent describing your personal motivation and objectives.
B. Your CV.
C. Relevant certificates and diplomas documenting your previous studies.