Job offer:
Research Assistant at BMFTR-funded project “UncovRT”

Working at the University Medical Centre Essen

As a maximum-care university hospital with a capacity of around 1,300 beds, we treat 225,000 patients a year with over 6,000 employees in 26 clinics, 23 institutes and specialist centres. Our hospital offers medical care, state-of-the-art diagnostics and comprehensive treatment to the highest international standards. In addition, we offer a comprehensive range of research and teaching services at an internationally competitive level.

Working in the heart of the Ruhr region

In Essen, in the heart of the Ruhr region and the green capital of Europe in 2017, the WPE’s Particle Therapy Clinic offers a challenging field of work in the application of state-of-the-art proton therapy for the effective yet particularly gentle treatment of tumor diseases. Since 2013, the WPE has been successfully treating outpatients with CNS tumors, head and neck tumors, sarcomas, prostate carcinomas and childhood tumors with proton therapy. Since its opening, the WPE has acquired an excellent reputation recognized worldwide. Numerous collaborations at national and international level are proof of the high therapeutic and scientific standard of our work. The result: our patients come to us in Essen not only from all over Germany, but also from many other European and non-European countries. That is why we are looking for you to join our team.

Working at WPE

At our West German Proton Therapy Centre Essen (WPE), under the direction of Prof. Beate Timmermann, we offer state-of-the-art radiation therapy for tumor diseases using protons. The centerpiece of the facility is a 230 MeV cyclotron. The four treatment rooms contain three gantries that can be rotated through 360 degrees and a fixed-beam room with 2 fixed beam lines. Each of the rotating gantries weighs approximately 120 tons and yet ensures an accuracy of up to 0.25 degrees. The Pencil Beam Scanning method (PBS) and a state-of-the-art therapy planning system are used for Intensity Modulated Proton Therapy (IMPT). This means that the entire craniospinal axis (CSA, includes the brain and spinal canal) can be routinely irradiated in the WPE for tumors of the central nervous system (CNS). The availability of IMPT also enables a simultaneous integrated boost (SIB) – i.e. simultaneous boost irradiation.

“UncovRT”

The UncovRT project is conducting research on the impact of radiation therapy on quality of life. As part of the National Decade Against Cancer, the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology, and Space (BMFTR) is providing UncovRT with approximately two million euros in funding. Of this amount, 420,000 euros are going to the UME. The team at the Clinic for Particle Therapy at the West German Proton Therapy Centre Essen (WPE) is primarily studying children and adolescents with brain or skull base tumors who have undergone proton radiation therapy.
The research teams are investigating what happens in the brain after radiation therapy and why some patients continue to suffer from the treatment’s side effects—such as impaired concentration and memory—years later, even though proton therapy is gentler than conventional photon radiation. Read more

Your Responsibilities

Your Qualifications:

• Completed Master’s degree in medical physics or physics
• Background in medical imaging or radiotherapy.
• Advanced IT and programming skills (e.g., Python, MATLAB)
• Good analytical skills and strong knowledge of statistical analysis
• English language skills at least on B2 level (German is a plus).
• Desirable, but not madatory: Dose simulation for radiotherapy & Radiation response modeling

Look forward to

• A challenging, diverse and application-oriented research in a highly qualified, interdisciplinary, open-minded and collegial team in one of Europe’s largest centres for proton therapy as well as practical experience in the physics team.
• You will work closely with a team of radiation therapy experts
• You will be part of a university, interdisciplinary environment with diverse scientific development opportunities
• Fair pay in accordance with the collective wage agreement (TV-Länder)

Further information:

Tel. +49 (0) 201-723 83930

Applications from people of all genders are expressly welcome. Applications from women will be given preferential treatment in accordance with regulations. Measures to promote gender equality in science and, if necessary, to create a more family-friendly workplace are supported.

Please note that applications from suitable severely disabled persons are welcome.