CHRONIC OBSTRUCTIVE PULMONARY DISEASE (COPD) is a prevalent inflammatory disease characterized by irreversible airflow obstruction as well as skeletal muscle wasting. The disease has high morbidity and mortality, and with more than 300 million deaths yearly, it is the 3rd leading cause of death worldwide.   Disturbed damage and repair responses have been implicated in both lung and muscle pathology in COPD, resulting in airway disease, alveolar tissue destruction (emphysema) and skeletal muscle weakness. The tissue damage in COPD is irreversible and there is an urgent need to understand and target the mechanisms leading to impaired tissue regeneration in COPD. Convincing evidence implicates a role for mitochondrial impairment in lung and muscle pathology in COPD. Funded by a ZonMW-Open consortium grant, we will address this in our project MITOREG.

In the work packages of this sub-project of MITOREG, advanced cell culture models of muscle regeneration will be deployed to investigate the contribution of mitochondrial dysfunction to impaired muscle recovery in COPD. Moreover, the role of mitochondrial dynamics in muscle-lung cross-talk will be interrogated using organ on chip approaches in parallel with genetically modified mice in a model COPD, and key-findings will be verified in patient material. Finally, in the experimental models, the potential of interventions aimed at restoring mitochondrial health to improve muscle and lung tissue regeneration will be assessed.
 

You hold a Master’s degree in the Molecular/Cell/Medical Biology or other relevant Biomedical Sciences field with a strong drive to further develop in this area. You have a real researcher’s mentality; open-minded, curious, enthusiastic, inquisitive and accurate. You are pro-active and capable of working independently, but you are also a team player. You have good organization and communication skills and master the English language in spoken and written form. As this project focusses on mechanisms underlying lung crosstalk with extra-pulmonary tissue in the context of damage and repair responses, the candidate is expected to have a great interest and affinity for intercellular communication, signaling pathways, and tissue regeneration. Affinity with pre-clinical (mouse) models is required. Experience with animal and advanced cell culture models is a plus. Having a Biosafety (VMT) and/or FELASA-C certification is a plus as well.

Fixed-term contract: 48 months.

Temporary (full-time) employment for 4 years. The first year will be a probation period, after a positive assessment the position will be extended for another 3 years, which happens in the vast majority of cases.

Your salary would be € 2.434,- gross per month in the first year up to € 3.111,- gross per month in the fourth year according to the PhD-candidate salary scale. An 8% holiday and an 8.3% year-end allowance is also provided. Each year an evaluation will take place.

The terms of employment of Maastricht University are set out in the Collective Labour Agreement of Dutch Universities (CAO). Furthermore, local UM provisions also apply. For more information look at the website http://www.maastrichtuniversity.nl > About UM > Working at UM.

Maastricht University

Maastricht University is renowned for its unique, innovative, problem-based learning system, which is characterized by a small-scale and student-oriented approach. Research at UM is characterized by a multidisciplinary and thematic approach, and is concentrated in research institutes and schools. Maastricht University has around 20,000 students and 4,700 employees. Reflecting the university's strong international profile, a fair amount of both students and staff are from abroad. The university hosts 6 faculties: Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Faculty of Law, School of Business and Economics, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience. For more information, visit www.maastrichtuniversity.nl.

Department of Respiratory Medicine

This project will be completed within NUTRIM - Department of Respiratory Medicine of Maastricht University, with a long standing interest in lung - muscle interactions in lung disease, including COPD and lung cancer. 

The work will be conducted in close collaboration with the groups Prof. I Heijink (Dept. of Pathology & Medical Biology, UMCG) and Prof. S. Verpoorte (RUG), as parallel work packages of the MITOREG project are completed by a PhD student and post-doc in Groningen.