Science in Translation

5 excellent reasons to do your PhD at TRON

TRON is always looking for young and talented graduates who are interested in working in a multi-disciplinary and application-oriented environment. Our PhD students are part of ATLAS – Talent Academy for TransLAtional Science, the joint PhD program with our longstanding cooperation partner BioNTech.

The mission of ATLAS is to promote scientific excellence in a truly international research community. The program provides unique insight into our state-of the art science. Continuous scientific exchange and close contact to fellow PhD colleagues and mentors is facilitated by annual symposiums and retreats.

More information about this unique opportunity can be found here: www.atlas-phdprogram.com

#01
Cutting edge biomedical research

We offer exceptional opportunities for ambitious scientists to investigate innovative diagnostics and therapies for the treatment of cancer and other diseases with high medical need. TRON’s PhDs do cutting edge translational research in

RNA vaccination optimization
personalized anti-tumoral immunotherapy
protein engineeringtumor immunology
bioinformatics and systems biology
next generation sequencing
biomarker characterization
pre-clinical tumor models
viral gene transfer

TRON’s students have access to state-of-the-art equipment in several service units for their research. Beyond the support within these service units that makes research faster and easier, students also undergo at least two advanced training lab rotations to enrich their methodological experience.

#02
International environment

TRON has an international team from more than 12 nationalities, all working in a dynamic research environment. In addition, we collaborate with international partners on several projects. All meetings such as our Journal and Data Club are held in English.

#03
Shape the work
environment

At TRON we believe in the collective creative power of enthusiastic people and in finding and fostering new talents. This is reflected in our work culture – TRON’s flat hierarchy endorses open communication and allows you to make a difference.

#04
Opportunities
to develop presentation skills

Young scientists at TRON are an essential part of the team and are challenged to regularly present their data in-house as part of their professional development. They are also strongly encouraged to show their findings at national and international congresses and to publish their results in peer-reviewed international journals. See a selection of their publications below.

#05
Annual retreat

An annual overnight or virtual retreat for all doctoral students, centered on focused seminars, where students and advisors discuss and exchange ideas in a casual atmosphere. The event is organized by our PhD students.

“I have the opportunity to enjoy living my creativity. Not only my personal creativity, my work-related (creativity) as well.”
Isabell, PhD student
“For me as a PhD student at TRON, it's great that there are almost no limits to my curiosity. I am not told what to do, but I can contribute my own ideas."
Lukas, PhD student
“When I started I was very excited to see that the TRON PhD program organized from and for students is so dynamic and diverse that besides our scientific work we also grow together as a group.”
Janina, PhD student
“Learn as much as you can from the people around you! Use your intuition, knowledge and be brave to fathom an issue to its origin to find your own conclusion.”
Michael, PhD student

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Publications from our PhD students:

Trans-amplifying RNA expressing functional miRNA mediates target gene suppression and simultaneous transgene expression
We show that mature miRNA is released from STRs and silences specific targets in a replication-dependent manner without compromising the expression of STR-encoded proteins. Our findings suggest that incorporating miRNAs into the taRNA vector platform has the potential for gene regulation alongside the expression of therapeutic genes.
Long-lasting mRNA-encoded interleukin-2 restores CD8+ T cell neoantigen immunity in MHC class I-deficient cancers
We show that treatment with long-lasting mRNA encoded interleukin-2 (IL-2) restores an immune cell infiltrated, IFNg-promoted, highly proinflammatory TME signature, and when combined with a tumor-targeting monoclonal antibody (mAB), can overcome therapeutic resistance in cancer.
Multiple instance learning to predict immune checkpoint blockade efficacy using neoantigen candidates
We predict immune checkpoint blockade efficacy based on neoantigen candidates and their neoantigen features in the context of the mutation type, using Multiple-Instance Learning via Embedded Instance Selection (MILES).
NeoFox: annotating neoantigen candidates with neoantigen features
Engineering of an individualized cancer vaccine relies on the selection of neoantigen candidates that are capable of inducing a potent and clinically relevant T-cell response from all mutations identified for a cancer patient.
Novel RNA-Based therapy for treatment of autoimmune diseases.
Loss of immunological self-tolerance followed by attack of self-reactive T cells to target organs plays a major role in the formation of autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis (MS).