2 PhD positions available in the Netherlands
| by Ana Depetris Chauvin
As part of the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Action (MSCA) Doctoral Network (MSCA-DN) MiCCrobioTackle, our partners at the Amsterdam University Medical Center (AUMC) are looking for 2 PhD students.
PhD position 1: We are seeking a PhD candidate to investigate the therapeutic potential of FMT (in cancer patients receiving perioperative chemotherapy. The role involves patient recruitment, monitoring treatment adherence, and collecting clinical data and biological samples for translational research. You will collaborate with a multidisciplinary team, ensuring compliance with Good Clinical Practice and contributing to safety monitoring. After inclusion has finished effect of FMT therapy on chemotherapy toxicity, QoL, disease recurrence, and overall survival will analysed. Also, translational work will include among others, flow cytometry of peripheral blood immune cells, analyzing microbiome sequencing data, and immunohistochemistry of tumor tissue. These results will be shared during the regular MSCA-DN meetings.
Candidates (MD or PhD with experience in clinical trials and microbiome research) are encouraged to apply.
PhD position 2: We are seeking a PhD candidate to interrogate and characterize donor FM data linked with significantly improved survival in CC patients by extrapolating and reusing available shotgun microbiota data from our previously published study. This will involve integrative analysis of meta multi-omics data and data validation in other cancer patient cohorts. New ‘FMT-in-a-pill’ formulations to fight CC will then be developed first in silico using bioinformatics consisting of FMT donors identified as ‘good clinical effectors’.
The candidate has (some) experience in analyzing microbiome shotgun sequencing data using specific pipelines (eg KRAKEN) as well as knowledge of multi-omics- machine learning (randomized tree) analyses of clinical, microbiome, (single) cell RNA seq data, and immunohistochemistry of tumor tissue. These results will be shared during the regular MSCA-DN meetings.
Application procedure:
Complete applications in English should include a cover letter, a CV containing a complete list of publications, a brief statement of research experiences, the addresses of two possible referees, and should be submitted to m.nieuwdorp@amsterdamumc.nl. The deadline for the advertisement is September 30, 2024, but applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.