As PhD student in the Department of Clinical Pharmacy and Toxicology, you will be involved in the innovative research line ‘Targeted therapy and clonal evolution of heterogeneous tumors.’ Specific treatment of cancer is increasingly chosen on the basis of the presence of specific somatic mutations or protein expression in the tumor. Due to tumor heterogeneity and clonal evolution this is a very dynamic process. For this reason, the most optimal targeted drug may change over time. The goal of this new research line is to develop and apply systems pharmacology models to predict the most optimal therapy for individual patients.

The project focuses on the mathematical description of and ultimately prediction of tumor growth and tumor clone development during treatment of oncological and hematological diseases using targeted therapies such as tyrosine kinase inhibitors. Data concerning pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics (tumor growth and heterogeneity) and drug sensitivity will be combined to develop models for predicting the most optimal therapy for the individual patient in the future. The research will involve several pharmacometric software systems for PK/PD and systems pharmacology modelling such as NONMEM, PKSim and Mobi. This research will be performed in close collaboration with different departments that participate in the Leiden Network for Personalised Therapeutics (www.lnpt.nl). 

You have obtained an MSc degree in Pharmacy, Biopharmaceutical Sciences, Medicine, Bioinformatics or Mathematics and have experience with, or an affinity for, PK/PD software such as NONMEM and R-statistics. You are accurate, productive and have a pro-active, result-driven work attitude. Independent and ambitious, you should possess great perseverance and enjoy good communication skills in both written and spoken English.

Fixed-term contract: four years.

You will be employed on the basis of a 36-hour week. Appointment should lead to a PhD thesis and is for a maximum duration of four years. Your salary is € 2,266 gross per month in the first year, progressing to € 2,903 gross per month in the fourth year based on a full-time position (scale PhD students of the Collective Labor Agreement for University Hospitals).

The terms of employment offered by the LUMC are highly favorable. For example, you will receive 8% holiday remuneration, a year-end bonus, and a pension arrangement with the National Civil Pension Fund. Also, as employee of one of the University Hospitals in the Netherlands, you can benefit from our collective health insurance policy.

 Moreover, the LUMC offers excellent facilities in the area of education, child-care centers, and career advice. In addition, you may enjoy various leave arrangements and other extras.

Clinical Pharmacy and Toxicology

The LUMC is a center for medical innovation that aims to improve patient care through leading international research. So as to also provide our patients with a safe and friendly environment, we need doctors, medical care specialists, support staff and academic researchers. The Department of Clinical Pharmacy and Toxicology is a large and ambitious hospital pharmacy active in all its core tasks of patient care, education, specialist training and scientific research. The Department’s research program ‘Personalized Therapeutics’ aims to identify and implement genetic biomarkers which predict individual drug responses as well as develop innovative drugs. All of the Department’s PhD students are also enrolled in the LUMC Graduate School.