100% position for 4 years, earliest starting date: 1 January 2027
This PhD project develops ultrasmall, intravenously deliverable hafnium oxide nanoparticles to improve radiotherapy for high-risk neuroblastoma, a pediatric cancer with poor prognosis and limited treatment options.
Neuroblastoma remains a major unmet clinical need because high-risk disease is still associated with poor outcomes despite multimodal treatment, while conventional radio-chemotherapy is constrained by toxicity to healthy tissue. Radiotherapy-enhancing nanoparticles offer a promising route to increase local tumor damage without simply escalating X-ray dose. Hafnium oxide nanoparticles are attractive radioenhancers because hafnium strongly absorbs X-rays, leading to enhanced local energy deposition and free-radical generation during irradiation. Clinical studies have already demonstrated the translational potential of this approach, but current strategies rely on direct intratumoral injection of relatively large particles, which limits treatment to accessible tumors.
Your position
This project addresses that limitation by designing ultrasmall nanoparticles suitable for intravenous delivery and tumor targeting, with a specific focus on neuroblastoma. Building on established expertise in nanoparticle synthesis and surface chemistry, this project will optimize nanomaterial design for circulation, targeting, and therapeutic performance in neuroblastoma organoids, enabling preclinical evaluation in physiologically relevant 3D models.
This PhD position sits at the interface of nanochemistry, and translational cancer research, and offers the opportunity to contribute to a next-generation strategy for making radiotherapy more selective, effective, and clinically accessible for difficult-to-treat pediatric tumors.
Your profile
You have a degree in Chemistry or Biochemistry. You either have experience with nanoparticles or with biochemical/biological research. You are curious to both the chemical and the biological aspects of the project. You are proficient in English.
We offer you
- Excellent scientific and social environment
- Very competitive employment conditions
- Membership in a very supportive and recognised community
The successful candidate will become a member of very active research groups and of the Swiss Nanoscience Institute (SNI) PhD school with ~30 currently supported scientists. The SNI covers a wide variety of topics, including cutting edge quantum physics and chemistry, material science, nanotechnology, biochemistry, cell biology, or medical research.
Application / Contact
More information and the online application platform can be found at www.phd.nanoscience.ch. For questions, please contact the head of the SNI PhD programme, Dr. Andreas Baumgartner (andreas.baumgartner@unibas.ch), or directly the project leaders. The application has to be completed before 31 December 2026. Please note that the vacancy can be filled any time from now.
www.unibas.ch
