We offer an exciting postdoc position for a project funded by the Lung Foundation Netherlands that aims to reveal exposomic and genomic factors that determine the lung function plateau in early adulthood.

Your job
COPD is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Although COPD generally manifests at older age, events early in life may significantly contribute to the disease. It been estimated that half of COPD cases can be attributed to low lung growth leading to a low maximum level of lung function attained in early adulthood (“the plateau”). Improved knowledge on the factors that determine the lung function plateau can therefore contribute to future prevention of COPD.

The research will be performed within the PIAMA study, a large ongoing population-based birth cohort study with prenatal inclusion in 1996/96. In PIAMA, we study the environmental, genetic and lifestyle determinants of health and disease during childhood, adolescence and young adulthood.

You will be responsible for the analysis of the importance of external (e.g. air pollution, green space, physical activity) and internal (e.g. chemical) exposome measures throughout the life course for the lung function plateau in the PIAMA study. Moreover, with the interdisciplinary PIAMA team, you will work on determining a multi-omics signature of low lung function in early adulthood, which can be used to detect subjects at risk of subsequent COPD.

As the ideal candidate for this position, you are enthusiastic and ambitious, an independent thinker, have excellent writing skills, and are a team player. You hold a PhD in epidemiology, (medical) statistics, or a related discipline. Affinity with environmental health and OMICs data is valued. Furthermore, you have strong programming skills, are comfortable working with large-scale data, and have a relevant publication record.

Candidates with the following skills are especially encouraged to apply:

• experience in statistical analyses with SAS or R;
• experiences with longitudinal cohort studies;
• excellent collaboration and communication skills (written and spoken);
• a strong motivation to work in a multidisciplinary international research team.

We offer an exciting opportunity to contribute to an ambitious and international research programme with highly motivated colleagues and to conduct your research project at a renowned research university. You will receive training opportunities, personal supervision, and career guidance, which will provide an excellent start to an academic career. Furthermore, we offer:

• a position for 1.5 years;
• a working week of 38 hours and a full-time gross salary between €3,226 and €5,090 (scale 10 of the Collective Labour Agreement Dutch Universities (CAO));
• 8% holiday bonus and 8.3% end-of-year bonus;
• a pension scheme, partially paid parental leave, and flexible employment conditions based on the Collective Labour Agreement Dutch Universities.

In addition to the terms of employment laid down in the CAO NU, Utrecht University has a number of schemes and facilities of its own for employees. This includes schemes facilitating professional development, leave schemes and schemes for sports and cultural activities, as well as discounts on software and other IT products. We also offer access to additional employee benefits through our Terms of Employment Options Model. In this way, we encourage our employees to continue to invest in their growth. For more information, please visit Working at Utrecht University.

Universiteit Utrecht

A better future for everyone. This ambition motivates our scientists to execute their leading research and inspiring teaching. At Utrecht University, the various disciplines collaborate intensively towards major societal themes. Our focus is on Dynamics of Youth, Institutions for Open Societies, Life Sciences and Sustainability. Sharing science, shaping tomorrow.

The Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences (IRAS) is an interfaculty research institute within the Faculties of Veterinary Medicine and Medicine. Our mission is to provide education and research on the human and environmental health risks of exposure to potentially harmful agents in the environment where research takes place within the domains Toxicology, Environmental Epidemiology and Veterinary Public Health.

This project is supervised by Dr Ulrike Gehring and Professor R.C.H. Vermeulen. If you have any questions, please contact u.gehring@uu.nl.

Interviews are planned to take place on 18 June 2024.