Have you finished your master in bio/mechanical or mechatronics engineering and looking for a multidisciplinary job to further develop your skills and broaden your opportunities? Join Surgical Robotics Laboratory and work on continuum robots for medical applications.

This project is a collaboration between Surgical Robotics Laboratory - University of Twente (UT) and Medisch Spectrum Twente (MST), with the aim of developing magnetically-controlled catheters for minimally invasive surgery and cardiac interventions. The project has an opening for junior researcher for a period of 12 months. The researcher will be employed at University of Twente, Faculty of Engineering Technology, Department of Biomechanical engineering, Surgical Robotics Lab (SRL). Venkatasubramanian Kalpathy Venkiteswaran (Postdoctoral research fellow) will be the daily supervisor of the project.

Challenge:

Coronary heart disease is the leading cause of death in the world, and this project aims to improve the treatment of this ailment through the development of a novel catheter system using magnetic actuation. The actuation will be achieved using a computer-assisted Remote Magnetic Navigation (RMN) system, and will improve control over catheter steering, thereby reducing damage to blood vessels, and will decrease radiation exposure compared to prevalent fluoroscopic guiding techniques. Improved surgical efficiency and reduced hospitalization times will mean better utilization of medical resources and personnel, and superior quality of life for patients.

The major focus of the proposed work is the design and development of a magnetic catheter. It will utilize existing electromagnetic coil systems for guidance and implantation. The key technical challenges are twofold – firstly in terms of mechanical design and secondly with regards to robotic control. The first challenge involves the design of the stent and catheter, including placement of magnets and choice of manufacturing process. The second challenge requires analysis of current magnetic actuation and guidance techniques, utilizing a robust system for catheter guidance.

The researcher will be expected to work on the design and development of the catheter, and therefore have knowledge of mechanical/biomedical design, along with a background in robotics. The work will involve understanding the state-of-the-art in surgical catheters and medical relevance, fabricating prototypes for proof-of-concept designs, and testing performance in medically-relevant phantoms.

• An M.Sc. in mechanical engineering, mechatronics, biomedical engineering, bio-mechanical engineering, robotics
• Knowledge of mechanical design (create drawings, fabrication methods)
• Experience with Solidworks (or similar mechanical design software)
• Experience with Finite Element analysis software (Ansys, Abaqus) for mechanical analysis
• Programming in C++
• Familiarity with medical robotics, minimally invasive interventions and image guided surgery
• Good command of English for professional communication and ability to liaise with medical and industry personnel

You can upload your application through the button below before 25th March 2019. Please add the following documents to your application (you can upload max. 3 documents in total):

• Cover letter describing your background and motivation
• Curriculum Vitae / Resume (2 pages)
• Current place of residence
• Earliest possible time to start the position
• Applications including a portfolio (one page) of the activities they have done relevant to the project and a proposal (two pages in the format of scientific writing), describing what they can deliver during the 12 months, will be considered positively.

We offer a very challenging position in an inspiring environment, bridging academia and industry. During the appointment you will be interacting with various scientists and clinicians. The salary depends on your experience (max 3 years), length of the contract (max 12 month) and the weekly hours (max 38h per week). The total max salary will be maximum 31k€ (in the range of €2579, to € 2972 per month) in accordance with the Collective Labor Agreement for Dutch Universities (NWO 1FTE Junior researcher). The University of Twente offers additional attractive employment conditions. In addition to this, we offer a holiday allowance (amounts to 8%), an end-of-year bonus (amounts to 8.3%), various sporting and cultural facilities at reduced rate and medical insurance at a reduced rate.

The University of Twente. We stand for life sciences and technology. High tech and human touch. Education and research that matter. New technology which leads change, innovation and progress in society. The University of Twente is the only campus university of the Netherlands; divided over five faculties we provide more than fifty educational programmes. We have a strong focus on personal development and talented researchers are given scope for carrying out groundbreaking research.

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status or disability status. Because of our diversity values we do particularly support women to apply.

The Faculty of Engineering Technology (ET) is one of the five faculties of the University of Twente. ET combines Mechanical Engineering, Civil Engineering and Industrial Design Engineering. Our faculty has approximately 1800 bachelor and master students, 400 employees and 150 PhD candidates. The departments of the faculty cooperatively conduct the educational programmes and participate in interdisciplinary research projects, programmes and the research institutes: Mesa+ Institute, TechMed Centra and Digital Society Institute.