PhD position in Infant Gut Microbiota and Bioactive Metabolites
PhD position in Infant Gut Microbiota and Bioactive Metabolites
Employer Active
Job Alert
You will be updated with latest job alerts via email
Share
Job Alert
You will be updated with latest job alerts via email
Not Disclosed
Salary Not Disclosed
1 Vacancy
Job Description
Are you fascinated by the chemistry of the gut microbiome Are you intrigued to learn more about how the bacterial metabolic function is involved and could be targeted in the context of immune training Do you enjoy working in a lab with preclinical in vitro human models Then this position might be perfect for you!
Join us!
Over 100 million infants are born worldwide every year. Immediately after birth microbes start to colonize our germ-free gut to form a complex microbial community called gut microbiota. Gut microbiota develops rapidly during early life and is essential for our health during infancy and later life. Microbes individually or work in concert can substantially impact the development of the immune system hence the infant susceptibility to chronic diseases or infection. However it remains elusive which bacteria and their metabolites are beneficially training our nave immune system. Understanding this complex interaction could pave the way to discovering new targets or interventions to strengthening infant health.
This PhD project aims to investigate specific early bacterial colonizers their bioactive metabolites and their beneficial interactions with our nave immune system at the early stage of our life. Using multi-disciplinary approaches such as anaerobic culturing synthetic biology organoids and infant GuMI models metabolomics and proteomics the goal is to identify beneficial bacterial metabolites and genes that are responsible for immune training. The project is part of NeoGutChip project a EU funded ERC Starting Grant.
What are you going to do
Your work will focus on identifying the genes and bioactive metabolites produced by infant gut microbes and validate their function using in vitro cell cultures and advanced infant GuMI gut microphysiological systems. The position is embedded within The MBMFS Group in the GuMI lab of dr. Jianbo Zhang at the Swammerdam Institute for Life Sciences University of Amsterdam (UvA).
Tasks and responsibilities:
- complete and defend a PhD thesis within the official appointment duration of four years;
- gain knowledge of the field through literature survey discussion with team members and internal lab meetings;
- contribute to the design of experiments perform experiments in the lab and analyze and interpret results of the experiments;
- perform preclinical in vitro experiments;
- take a leading role in writing manuscripts;
- be an active member of the research teams and present your results at (inter)national scientific meetings;
- participate in the Faculty of Science PhD training programme;
- assist in teaching Bachelor and Masters students;
- co-supervise junior scientists (technicians MSc/BSc students).
What do you have to offer
You are excited about science and have a particular interest in and preferably have knowledge of gut anaerobic culturing bioinformatics and mass spectrometry data analysis. You like a challenge and you have a problem-solving mindset. You have good statistical skills and experience with analyzing metabolomic and metagenomic sequencing data. You like to work in diverse settings as you have to communicate closely with a diverse team (i.e. microbiologists data analyst cell biologists immunologist engineers). You are a team player and a nice colleague who enjoys being part of an interdisciplinary team of scientists. Finally you have good time management skills enabling you to meet the projects deadlines for finishing analyses reports and other deliverables.
Your experience and profile
You have/are
- a MSc degree in Biomedical Sciences Microbiology or related fields;
- experience with anaerobic bacterial culturing mass spectrometry data analysis;
- experience with omics analyses and coding (e.g. python R);
- experience with bacterial genetic engineering or mammalian cell culture is a plus;
- good project and time management skills enabling you to meet the projects deadlines for finishing analyses reports and other deliverables;
- good analytical writing and presenting skills;
- fluent in English both written and spoken and the willingness to learn Dutch (in case not Dutch native speaker).
Our offer
A temporary contract for 38 hours per week for the duration of 4 years (the initial contract will be for a period of 18 months and after satisfactory evaluation it will be extended for a total duration of 4 years). The preferred starting date is 1 November 2025 This should lead to a dissertation (PhD thesis). We will draft an educational plan that includes attendance of courses and (international) meetings. We also expect you to assist in teaching undergraduates and master students.
Based on a full-time appointment (38 hours per week) the gross monthly salary will range from 3059 in the first year to 3881 (scale P) in the last year. This does not include 8% holiday allowance and 83% year-end allowance. The UFO profile PhD candidate applicable. The Collective Labour Agreement of Universities of the Netherlands is applicable.
Besides the salary and a vibrant and challenging environment at Science Park we offer you multiple fringe benefits:
- 232 holiday hours per year (based on fulltime);
- multiple courses to follow from our Teaching and Learning Centre;
- a complete educational program for PhD students;
- a pension at ABP for which UvA pays two third part of the contribution;
- the possibility to follow courses to learn Dutch;
- help with housing for a studio or small apartment when youre moving from abroad.
Are you curious to read more about our extensive package of secondary employment benefits take a lookhere.
About us
The Swammerdam Institute for Life Sciences is located at the vibrant Amsterdam Science Park. SILS is one of eight institutes of the University of Amsterdams Faculty of Science (FNWI). With around 240 employees the Swammerdam Institute carries out internationally high-quality life science research and provides education within various university programs. Research is also carried out in close cooperation with the medical biotech chemical flavor food & agricultural and high-tech industries and revolves around 4 main themes Cell & Systems biology Neurosciences Microbiology and Green Life Sciences.
Do you have any questions or do you require additional information Please contact:
If you feel the profile fits you and you are interested in the job we look forward to receiving your application. We accept applications until and including 19 September 2024.
Applications should include the following information (all files besides your cv should be submitted in one single pdf file):
- a detailed CV including the months (not just years) when referring to your education and work experience;
- a letter of motivation;
- the names and email addresses of two references who can provide letters of recommendation.
A knowledge security check can be part of the selection procedure.
(for details: national knowledge security guidelines)
Only complete applications received within the response period via the link below will be considered.
The interviews will be held continuously until the position is filled.
Employment Type
Full Time
