Fully Funded PhD Fellowships in de novo Protein Design Announced
The NNF Center for Protein Design (CPD) and the University of Copenhagen (UCPH) seek applications from highly motivated and talented students interested in pursuing PhDs in de novo protein design. Primarily, we are looking for students with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in the biological, chemical, computational or physical sciences. We will consider applications from suitably qualified people with a passion for researching and advancing de novo protein design. The successful applicants would form the CPD’s first cohort of PhD students starting in September 2026. There are two routes into these PhDs: Option A is direct entry into a 3-year PhD and requires a Danish master’s degree or the equivalent; and Option B is an integrated MSc and PhD of up to 5 years and requires a Danish bachelor’s degree or equivalent. The PhD students will contribute to teaching and related activities in the CPD and host departments.
The projects
De novo protein design can be defined as building completely new proteins from scratch using rules-based, computational, or AI approaches. Protein design has two main aims: First, to learn and understand the language of proteins. This enables researchers to write down or computationally generate new protein sequences that adopt new-to-nature structures and functions. Second, to use this understanding and methodology to design proteins that address problems in the fundamental and applied biosciences. More specific details of the CPD’s approach to protein design are given below.
Protein design is multidisciplinary. It bridges the interfaces between the biological, chemical, computational, and physical sciences. It combines rational and computational protein design with experimental characterisation to deliver new proteins to address challenges to advance fundamental science and for applications in biotechnology, medicine, and beyond. For its 2026 entry, a number of CPD PhD studentships will be awarded to work in this broad area.
Read the full description of the Fully Funded PhD Fellowships here