PhD Influence of Vegan Diet on Biological Aging

In this PhD project, you will delve into the intricate relationship between diet, especially vegan diet, and health and biological aging. This project will utilize advanced bioinformatic and statistical approaches to integrate epidemiological data and multi-omics analyses. The research focuses on understanding the relationship between a vegan diet and health through two complementary approaches:

1. Cross-Sectional Population-Level Data: Analyze large-scale, established cohort datasets to explore associations between vegan diets, health parameters (e.g., metabolic health, cardiovascular health), and measures of biological aging (e.g., epigenetic aging clocks, blood biochemistry aging clocks). Here you will investigate dietary patterns, lifestyle factors, and their implications for long-term health.
2. Clinical Trial Data: Utilize samples and datasets from clinical trials of vegan diets where multi-omics data have been generated (e.g., genomics, transcriptomics, metabolomics, microbiomics). Conduct pathway integration to elucidate molecular mechanisms underlying the effects of vegan diets on health and aging.

Would you like to know more about the different phases within the PhD trajectory? You can read more about this on this page.

• Perform bioinformatic and statistical analyses to process and integrate multi-omics data and epidemiological datasets;
• Develop and apply innovative approaches to investigate molecular pathways linking vegan diets to health outcomes;
• Work collaboratively with interdisciplinary teams, including clinical scientists, epidemiologists, biostatisticians, and systems biologists;
• Contribute to high-quality publications and present findings at conferences;
• Develop custom data pipelines and workflows;

• A flying start to your career in scientific research;
• Plenty of room for your drive to shape tomorrow's healthcare;
• Working on large-scale and in-house research, with motivated colleagues from all over the world;
• You will be employed by Amsterdam UMC Research BV;
• A contract for 12 months, with the intention to extend for a total of 4 years. The Guideline PhD contract applies to this vacancy;
• Salary scale OIO: € 3.017 to € 3.824 gross based on full-time employment (depending on education and experience) and a year-end bonus of 8.3%. Calculate your net salary here;
• Holiday hours: 190,4 per year for fulltime and a possibility to save additional hours;
• Pension accrual with BeFrank, a modern, comprehensible and fairly priced pension;
• For >7 km each way, 100% reimbursement for public transport travel costs and, for private transport, €0.18 per km up to a maximum of 40 km each way;
• Do you prefer walking or cycling? Take advantage of our good bike scheme. Moreover, you will receive a reimbursement of €0.18 per km.

Watch this video with more information about joining Amsterdam UMC Research BV.

Amsterdam UMC Research BV supports non-profit scientific research. In doing so, we provide researchers with everything they need to excel. Our principal investigators (PIs) and project leaders offer support in the field of project management, finance and human resources. In medical scientific research projects, legal support is also provided.

Watch the video to find out more.