Background

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder causing severe disability and decreased life expectancy. Despite major joint efforts made by the scientific community and pharmaceutical companies, there is a great unmet medical need for pharmacological treatment of AD as none of the approved drugs permanently improves or prevents the symptoms. Several factors contribute to the failure to develop disease-modifying drugs, including the accumulating evidence showing that the heterogeneous and yet unclear pathogenesis of AD may play a crucial role in the failure of clinical trials. In this proposal, we use a hypothesis-free, data-driven approach to identify distinct molecular subtypes of late onset Alzheimer’s disease (LOAD) using multi-omics data. We will apply state-of-the-art integrative methods on multi-omics data obtained from post-mortem brain samples of the multiple independent cohorts. Our research will give a deeper insight into the underlying biological processes disturbed in AD and its various subtypes; furthermore, key molecular players within each AD subtype will serve as more rigorous AD signatures that will be used as input for advanced AI-based computational drug repurposing.

Tasks

• Data analysis / bioinformatic analyses;
• Developing new research techniques and methods to analyse omic data;
• Conducting individual or collaborative research projects;
• Writing up research work for publication;
• Making presentations at national and international conferences and similar events;
• Teaching and supervision of Master and Bachelor students.

What we offer

Maastricht University's Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences (FHML) offers to all PhD candidates a wide range of incredibly useful training programs in Methodology and Statistics, English Academic Skills, Career and development and University Teaching Skills (https://www.maastrichtuniversity.nl/about-um/faculties/health-medicine-and-life-sciences/phd-fhmlmumc/phd-training-programmes-fhmlmumc )

This project will be in close collaboration with Complex Disease Epigenetics Group https://www.epigenomicslab.com/   Prof. Dr. Katie Lunnon at University of Exeter, UK, and Prof. Dr. Daniel van den Hove at the School for Mental Health and Neuroscience, Department of Psychiatry and Neuropsychology Maastricht University.

We are looking for a candidate with an M.Sc. with a background in system biology, data science, Artificial Intelligence, or related fields. Excellent statistical and programming skills (R, Python) and experience with high performance computing (HPC) clusters are essential for successful completion of this project. In addition, the candidate should have a keen interest in understanding the neuropsychological and neuropathological aspects of Alzheimer’s disease.

Fixed-term contract: 4 years.

Temporary employment (1.0 FTE) 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 € 2.395,- gross per month in the first year up to € 3.061,- 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 > Support > UM employees.

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.

School for Mental Health and Neuroscience

More information about the School for Mental Health and Neuroscience, see the website: https://mhens.mumc.maastrichtuniversity.nl/