PhD student biological testing of novel COPD treatment

Working Environment

The PhD student will work at the Department of Pulmonary Diseases, in close collaboration with the van Rijn lab of the department of Biomaterials & Biomedical Technology of the UMCG. The project will be embedded in the Groningen Institute for Asthma and COPD (GRIAC), a highly collaborative and supportive institute that supports the progression and growth of respiratory scientists in Groningen.

Job description

Patients with COPD often emphysema coinciding with air being trapped in the lungs, preventing efficient breathing. An effective treatment is implanting one-way valves in the lungs to remove the trapped air. Although efficient, the body often reacts to these foreign devices, leading to excessive inflammation and fibrosis. In order to reduce these detrimental side-effects, we will develop a new anti-fouling coating for these valves that prevent cells, proteins and micro-organisms from binding to the valves, ultimately preventing the detrimental host response. The PhD student will be responsible for testing biocompatibility and functional effects of these novel coatings using various advanced lab techniques.
The PhD student needs to be a biomedical scientist with some affinity for material science. Within this project a wide range of lab techniques will be used, including (primary) human lung cell culture, Organ-on-Chip development, microscopy, immunohistochemistry, qRT-PCR and ELISA. The PhD student will need to independently set-up and perform in vitro experiments. Moreover, the student needs to disseminate the results by writing scientific articles and giving presentations at (international) conferences. Collaboration is very important in this project, therefore the student needs to be pro-active and have excellent communicative skills. Additionally, as in vitro model development is part of the project the student needs to be creative, handy and have technical skills.

Requirements

- You have a Master’s degree in Molecular/Medical Biology, Biomedical Sciences, or equivalent.
- You are aware of, and can comply with, requirements for working within a confidential research collaboration.
- You have expertise with cell culture, and you have a VMT certificate or equivalent.
- You have experience with immunological, cell and molecular biological techniques such as RNA isolation, qPCR, ELISA, immunohistochemistry.
- You have excellent organizational, communication and interaction skills.
- Command of the English language in spoken and written word is mandatory.

Conditions of employment

The PhD student position is for a duration of 4 years, with an initial contract of one year, followed by an extension, based on performance.
Your salary will be a minimum of € 3.108 gross per month in the first year and a maximum of € 3.939 gross per month (scale PRO) in the final (4th) year, based on a full-time appointment. Additionally, the UMCG offers an 8% holiday allowance, an 8.3% year-end bonus. The conditions of employment comply with the Collective Labour Agreement for Medical Centres (CAO-UMC).
A look in the department:
You are welcome for a tour and further introductions, even if you do not want to write an application letter immediately. You can make an appointment for this with one of the contact persons below.
Links
Expirelab
Afdeling Longziekten en Tuberculose
Afdeling Longziekten en Tuberculose UMCG

Additional information

For more information about this vacancy you may contact:
Daan Pouwels +31 (0)50 3612255
[email protected]

Applying for a job

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Please use the the digital application form at the bottom of this page - only these will be processed. You can apply until 27 April 2026. Within half an hour after sending the digital application form you will receive an email- confirmation with further information.
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