Two PhD positions
intestine on chip
Do you want to study how intestinal stem cells can be used in Organ-on-Chip technology and used in toxicological studies? Do you want to understand how nutrients and chemicals in our food interact with the intestinal epithelium and immune system? Are you motivated to work in an interdisciplinary team of scientists embedded in an ambitions Dutch research consortium?
We have two PhD positions that combine intestinal stem cell biology with immunology in Organ-on-Chip models at the chair group of Toxicology. Are you the PhD student we are looking for?
We are looking for an enthusiastic stem cell biologists with affinity for toxicology and immunology. You will set up an intestine-on-chip based on induced pluripotent stem cells in which you combine these with lymphatic endothelial cells (PhD A) and intestinal immune cells (PhD B).
You will implement your excellent cell culturing skills and exploit molecular assays (i.e. routine cell biology and biochemical measurements, ELISA and confocal microscopy) and gene expression studies (i.e. qPCR, NGS) in your mechanistic studies. Next to building and benchmarking the models, you have the ambition to understand the mode of action of food chemicals and nutrients on intestinal physiology.
You will be embedded in the chair group of Toxicology and collaborate with the chair group of cell biology and immunology at Wageningen University and the group Food and Biobased Research. As part of the chair group, you will also be involved in training MSc and BSc students.
About the project:
This project is part of the LymphChip project funded by NWO in which 6 Dutch universities (Leiden UMC dr. Valeria Orlova overall project coordinator; AMC, UT, TUD, UM) and several private partners collaborate. In this project lymphatic cells will be integrated with heart, skin and intestinal stem-cell based models on advanced microfluidic chips.
The research is embedded within the Toxicology chair group. You will be co-supervised by Dr. ir. Hans Bouwmeester, Dr. Coen Govers and Dr. Tamara Hoppenbrouwers.
You have:
Wageningen University & Research offers excellent terms of employment. A few highlights from our Collective Labour Agreement include:
For more information about this position, please contact Hans Bouwmeester, Associate professor Toxicology, by email: hans.bouwmeester@wur.nl.
For more information about the procedure, please contact Rutger Voorrips, Recruiter, by email: rutger.voorrips@wur.nl.
Do you want to apply?
You can apply directly using the apply button on the vacancy page on our website which will allow us to process your personal information with your approval.
Indicate in your application if you are mainly interested in PhD A or PhD B. Also, make sure your motivation letter is tailored to the vacancy and is not just a description of your resume.
This vacancy will be listed up to and including Thursday, December 2nd 2021. We hope to schedule the first job interviews in week 50 and 51 of 2021. The preferred starting date for these positions are before summer 2022.
Equal opportunities
Wageningen University & Research (WUR) employs a large number of people with very different backgrounds and qualities, who inspire and motivate each other. We want every talent to feel at home in our organisation and be offered the same career opportunities. We therefore especially welcome applications from people who are underrepresented at WUR. For more information please go to our inclusivity page. A good example of how WUR deals with inclusiveness can be read on the page working at WUR with a functional impairment.
The mission of Wageningen University and Research is “To explore the potential of nature to improve the quality of life”. Under the banner Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen University and the specialised research institutes of the Wageningen Research Foundation have joined forces in contributing to finding solutions to important questions in the domain of healthy food and living environment.
With its roughly 30 branches, 6.800 employees and 12.900 students, Wageningen University & Research is one of the leading organisations in its domain. An integrated approach to problems and the cooperation between various disciplines are at the heart of Wageningen’s unique approach. WUR has been named Best Employer in the Education category for 2019-2020.
Read the 5 reasons why your future colleagues enjoy working at WUR and watch this video to get an idea of our green campus!