The research group Mucosal Immunology at the Tytgat Institute of Gastrointestinal and Liver research seeks to hire a motivated PhD student to support our project on innate immune regulation in Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). Within this project both mouse models of IBD and IBD patient material will be investigated for the role of mononuclear phagocytes in healthy and inflamed conditions. Furthermore, the interaction of intestinal mononuclear phagocytes with the (fungal) microbiota will be studied, and how this interaction affects inflammation is a central question in this project. The project will focus on studying distinct populations of blood and intestinal mononuclear phagocytes and study epigenetic and transcriptome variations amongst patients. To do this, state of the art technology to distinctively identify immune cell composition in IBD tissue is available. Additionally, we expect the candidate to expand our biobank of human IBD material and interact actively with the GI-surgeons. Flexibility is an absolute requirement.

You will be part of a multidisciplinary team of physicians, molecular biologists, immunologists and technicians. Project leaders will be Dr. SEM Heinsbroek and Prof. WJ de Jonge.

• You have a Master’s degree in one of the following fields: Medicine, biomedical Sciences, Health Sciences.
• You are proficient in working with patient materials, tissue culture, immunohistochemistry and molecular techniques.
• You have excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• You are accurate, result oriented, independent and have a great sense of responsibility.
• You are a highly motivated team player with proactive attitude.
• You are adaptable and can handle different projects concurrently.
• You have obtained/will be eligible to obtain, an Art.9 certificate.

 We offer an exciting and challenging PhD position in an ambitious and multidisciplinary research laboratory. You will initially be offered a employment contract for a definite period of 1 year, with the possibility to extension. You will be employed by the AMC Medical Research BV. The salary is in accordance with the CAO-UMC’s(OIO scale) or AIO scale 10.2 in case of MD certification. In addition we offer a holiday allowance of 8% of the gross yearly salary and an end-of-year bonus of 8.3%. As a PhD student you are expected to follow a wide range of courses provided by the AMC Graduate School.