Stroke is the number one cause of disability in the Western world and the 3rd most common cause of death. The common treatment of ischemic stroke with clot dissolving enzymes has quite variable outcomes. In recent years, our MrClean study has demonstrated that mechanical clot removal provides much improved patient outcome, and these results have been confirmed in several other clinical trials. Yet, despite these new treatment options, 2 out of 3 patients still have a poor outcome, partly related to obstruction and damage of the small arteries and capillaries that perfuse the brain tissue.

INSIST (IN-Silico trials for treatment of acute Ischemic Stroke, www.insist-h2020.eu) is a 4-years project run by a consortium of academic and industrial centers throughout Europe, coordinated by the AMC and financed by the European Commission under the H2020 framework programme. The main goal of INSIST is to advance treatments of ischemic stroke and its introduction in clinical practice by realizing in silico clinical stroke trials in which stroke and treatment are modeled.

As a Ph.D. student, you will help prediction of microvascular damage and repair in stroke patients, thereby guiding treatment strategies. In particular, you will perform experimental work on microvascular changes in rodent models of stroke, such as studying the effect of local constrictions and micro-thrombi released from the clot during thrombectomy on local tissue perfusion, endothelium and tissue damage and repair over time. You will include the role of age and sex , and consider possible drug treatment strategies. Your data will form input to extensive computer modeling of stroke treatment, culminating in the performance of in silico clinical trials on new devices and pharmaceuticals by the INSIST consortium. For this reason you will closely collaborate with clinicians, experimentalists and modeling experts at academic centers in among others Amsterdam, Oxford, Leuven, and with medical device and pharma companies.

You are a highly motivated M.Sc. in biomedical engineering, medical biology or related. You either have a good background in experimental rodent research and an interest in using your data as basis for interaction with the computer scientists in the network, or your experimental background may be limited but you have experience in advanced data analysis, quantitative modeling and computer programming. In either case, you have an academic mindset and willingness to collaborate in a truly multidisciplinary European team.

All applications should include:

- a curriculum vitae

- list of university courses taken with grades

- single page maximum statement of motivation and research interests.

An interview and a scientific presentation will be part of the selection process.

• A unique Ph.D. position (“Onderzoeker in Opleiding”) within a large and strong network tackling ischemic stroke
• Local collaboration within an informal and highly international group
• A four-year program within the AMC graduate school
• A broad array of courses within the AMC or partner institutes
• An employment by AMC Medical Research BV;
• A salary in line with the Collective Labor Agreement for University Medical Centers in the Netherlands (CAO UMC). The gross monthly salary ranges from EUR 2,279.00 to EUR 2,919.00);
• A range of added fringe benefits, such as an annual bonus of 8.3 %, holiday allowance, collective discounted rates for a number of insurances, an attractive bicycle scheme and/or public transport allowance, and free parking.

You will work within the department of Biomedical Engineering and Physics in close collaboration with the department of Radiology. We perform science for LIFE: Light, Imaging, Flow & Engineering. We are a truly multidisciplinary group, including biologists, physicists, engineers and clinicians. Our ‘Flow’ work addresses brain perfusion and microvascular function using a range of techniques, including various in vivo rodent models and in vitro study of vascular reactivity and endothelial function. These approaches are extended with cellular and molecular work, as well as with quantitative analysis and simulation models of vascular function and perfusion that serve to integrate current knowledge in the field towards a better understanding of the pathogenesis, diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular disease. The department is located in the AMC, a single building that combines all research, education and patient care, with very short connections between departments and excellent access to central research facilities.