Vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium (VRE) are causative agents of health-care-associated infections and are of growing concern worldwide. The candidate will further develop a user-friendly web-based application in collaboration with Medical Molecular Microbiologists from clinical laboratories and infectious disease specialists, to get insight into the molecular epidemiology of vancomycin-resistant clones and resistance genes in Dutch hospitals. The newly developed application will be used to rapidly judge whether the emergence of VRE in a particular location is, for example, the result of exchange of plasmids containing vancomycin-resistance genes.

The candidate will develop research software, curate generated data and software by applying FAIR principles, design and improve a web-interface in collaboration with users, and will promote their work with scientific presentations and publications.

The candidate should have demonstrable experience in generating reproducible research code and an interest in design of user interfaces. An ability to communicate with other researchers and clinicians interested in antibiotic resistance dissemination is required. Part-time work is possible.

The maximum salary for this position (25 - 36 hours) is € 4.615,00 gross per month based on full-time employment (work week 36 hours).

In addition, we offer an annual benefit of 8.3%, holiday allowance, travel expenses and career opportunities. The terms of employment are in accordance with the Cao University Medical Centers (UMC).

Department of Medical Microbiology of the University Medical Center Utrecht

The position is based in the research group of Prof. Rob Willems at the Department of Medical Microbiology of the University Medical Center Utrecht (UMCU) within the MMB-BioIT group. The department of Medical Microbiology is responsible for infectious disease diagnostics (bacteriology, virology, serology, mycology and parasitology), clinical microbiological consultancy, and infection prevention at the University Medical Center Utrecht. Moreover, the department has an important role in teaching and training of medical doctors, PhD candidates and undergraduate students. The MMB-BioIT group supports researchers working with microbial sequencing data by writing and maintaining pipelines and providing bioinformatics education and consultation.