Cardiovascular disease accounts for 31% of all global deaths. Over the past decades, effective treatment to reduce plasma cholesterol (driving this disease) has been developed but at the same time the worldwide pandemic of obesity and type 2 diabetes has increased the complexity of treating patients at increased risk of cardiovascular disease who also suffer from e.g. insulin resistance, increased risk of fatty liver disease, and cancer.
We have developed and validated an innovative pipeline to identify and characterize new players in processes underlying cardiometabolic diseases. In a first step, we make use of human hepatic transcriptome data to identify large series of novel candidate genes that are involved in lipoprotein metabolism. Following prioritization, these genes will be targeted (inactivated) in mouse livers using somatic CRISPR/Cas9-based gene editing, which allows us to study their impact on disease development. Promising candidate genes will be studied further to increase our fundamental (mechanistic) understanding of lipoprotein biology, autophagy and lipophagy. This project will be driven by the need to increase our molecular understanding of human cardiometabolic disease.

For this project, we need a skilled post-doctoral molecular and cellular biologist. The effort requires molecular biology skills such as generating plasmids and virus batches to target genes in the liver of Alb-Cas9 mice. It will also involve logistical skills to conduct large-scale mouse studies that need to be characterized shortly after transduction. The project will entail basic characterization of plasma and liver lipids at baseline and sacrifice, liver histology etc. When promising candidate genes are identified, the post-doc will lead in-depth investigations in the molecular mechanisms that underly the observed phenotypes. This may e.g. entail mRNA seq analysis, immunofluorescence and electron microscopy, pulse-chase experience. The postdoc will work with a dedicated team of technicians as well as PhD students which will require good communication skills. Candidates with a drive to understand molecular mechanism and a priori knowledge of lipid metabolism are very welcome to apply for this position.

- Job duration: 1 year with possible extension for 1 more year.
- The position is full time, but part-time at 0.8 fte can be considered.
- Preferred starting data: between Jan 1st and March 1st, 2021.

Your salary will be a maximum of € 4.615,- gross per month (scale 10), depending on your qualifications and relevant experience, based on a full-time appointment. In addition, the UMCG will offer you 8% holiday pay, and 8.3% end-of-year bonus. The conditions of employment comply with the Collective Labour Agreement for Medical Centres (CAO-UMC). English: http://www.nfu.nl/english/about-the-nfu/

More information
For more information about this vacancy please contact:
- Prof. Bart van de Sluis, e-mail address: a.j.a.van.de.sluis@umcg.nl
- Prof. Jan Albert Kuivenhoven, e-mail address: j.a.kuivenhoven@umcg.nl
Please do not use e-mail addresses for applications.

Kindergeneeskunde

The UMCG is one of the largest medical centers in The Netherlands. More than 13.000 employees provide patient care and medical education and perform biomedical research. The environment is ambitious, dynamic, and international, with state-of-the-art facilities. You will have the opportunity to perform cutting-edge research in the department of Pediatrics, in the building of the European Research Institute for the Biology of Aging (ERIBA), and to work with renowned scientists in the fields of glucose/lipid homeostasis, metabolic diseases and cancer.

Embedding
The gene identification part of the project will be conducted in collaboration with NEBION, a Swiss bioinformatic mRNA curation and exploration company. The molecular work will be carried out under direct supervision of Bart van de Sluis and Jan Albert Kuivenhoven in a team of technicians and PhD students of the department of Pediatrics of the UMCG in Groningen. Clearly, the candidate needs to be a team player and have excellent communicative skills to make this project into a success.