PHD candidate 'Artificial intelligence to improve interpretation of kidney transplant biopsies'

As a PhD candidate at Radboudumc, you will contribute to innovative research within the national PERSIMMON consortium. This consortium investigates how personalized therapy after kidney transplantation can improve patient outcomes.

Kidney transplantation is the preferred treatment for patients with end-stage kidney disease, but it is not a cure: many transplants fail prematurely due to rejection, requiring dialysis or re-transplantation. You will explore how artificial intelligence can be used to predict the response to therapy in cases of acute rejection of the kidney graft. Using machine-learning techniques, you will assess kidney transplant biopsies and develop and validate predictive models that support and enhance personalized care.

Your tasks include:

• Designing and conducting scientific research, with a focus on machine-learning based assessment of kidney transplant biopsies.
• Analyzing scientific data.
• Writing scientific publications and presenting findings at (inter)national scientific meetings.
• Collaborating within a consortium with researchers from Radboudumc, UMC Groningen and Erasmus MC.

You are enthusiastic, ambitious, and strongly motivated to successfully complete a PhD. You have the willingness to actively participate in consortium activities and collaborations.

In addition, you have:

• A master’s degree in Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, or a related field.
• Well-developed communication and social skills, oriented towards teamwork.
• Interest in applying machine learning in clinically relevant contexts.
• Affinity with scientific research and academic writing.

At Radboud university medical center, you build on your future. We are committed to providing the best care, education, and research. And we are true to our word, because we help you develop and seize opportunities and give you the room to grow. As an employer, we believe that employees should feel vital and happy at work in all stages of life. We are also committed to creating a healthy and safe working environment. Our employment conditions contribute to that. What we offer:

• Upon commencement of employment, you will start at scale 10A, step 0 (€ 3.108 based on a full-time appointment). Over a maximum period of 4 years, you will progress to scale 10A, step 3 (€3.939 based on a full-time appointment). You will also receive an 8% holiday allowance, an 8.3% end-of-year bonus, and a 47% to 72% bonus for working unsocial hours.
• 176 vacation hours per year based on a 36-hour working week.

You will work in an interdisciplinary team at Radboudumc, consisting of the Department of Nephrology and the Computational Pathology Group (CPG) within the Department of Pathology. The Department of Nephrology is responsible for approximately 150 kidney transplants per year and the associated patient care.

The CPG focuses on developing and validating novel methods in a broad range of computational pathology applications, including the assessment of kidney biopsies. The innovative application of machine learning in clinical settings creates a vibrant and inspiring research environment.

You will be part of the PERSIMMON consortium, a Dutch NWO-funded collaboration between Radboudumc, UMC Groningen and Erasmus MC. Within this consortium, you will collaborate with other researchers and attend regular consortium meetings.

Radboudumc
Welcome to Radboud university medical center (Radboudumc), where scientific breakthroughs are born through the curiosity and passion of our collaborating researchers in a vibrant environment. We believe trust and excitement are crucial elements to achieving our goals, and we approach our research as teams and with the utmost rigor to make a significant impact on health and healthcare. Our researchers are driven by their fascination with the biological, psychological, and sociological mechanisms underlying health and healthcare. They collaborate with partners from all over the world to improve health outcomes for all. Radboudumc unites patient care, research, education, and corporate learning, which allows us to approach our mission to shape the health and healthcare of the future in an innovative and person-centered way.

Our ambition is to lead the way in the pursuit of prevention, sustainability, meaningful care. We believe that through our research, we can significantly improve the health and well-being of society. Join us on our mission to make a difference in healthcare. Become a part of our community of gifted researchers, professionals or patient partners who are dedicated to making a real impact on population health and healthcare.

Read what it is like to do a PhD at the Radboud University Medical Center.