PhD candidate MMB m / f @ Department of Medical Microbiology of the University Medical Center Utrecht (UMC Utrecht)


PhD candidate MMB m / f
DepartmentMedical Microbiology
ProfileWe are looking for a creative, independent and ambitious candidate with a degree in an appropriateness field of biology (microbiology, molecular biology, biomedical sciences or bioinformatics). Preferably you have experience with handling large (meta) genomic data sets or You Should Be willing to learn basic bioinformatics. The candidate will work in association with an ambitious, multidisciplinary research group and collaborate with research groups from other universities and research institutes in The Netherlands and the EU and shouldering Therefore enjoy collaborations and teamwork and shouldering have significant social skills. Further More, the candidate shouldhave an excellent command of the English language.
FunctionThe research group of Dr.. Willem van Schaik is part of the Department of Medical Microbiology of the University Medical Center Utrecht (UMC Utrecht) and uses comparative and functional genomics to identify and characterize genes That Contribute to the success of antibiotic-resistant opportunistic pathogens That frequently colonize and infect hospitalized patients. In addition, Van Schaik's research group uses metagenomic approaches to characterize the reservoir of antibiotic resistance genes That are harbored by the microbiota of hospitalized patients. Research in the group of Van Schaik is funded through the EvoTAR project (www.evotar.eu) in the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Union, the ZonMw program Priority Medicines: Antimicrobial Resistance, and an NWO VIDI grant. The research themes within the Department of Medical Microbiology include molecular epidemiology, bacterial pathogenesis, antibiotic resistance, immune evasion and anti-viral resistance.
The research group of Dr.. Van Schaik has a vacancy for the position of a full-time "investigator in training" (PhD student) on a research project entitled "From harmless commensal gut to antibiotic-resistant hospital bug". Your research will be finalized with the writing of a PhD thesis with Prof. Marc JM Bonten as promoter and Dr. van Schaik as co-promoter. In this project we aim to elucidate how the human commensal Enterococcus faecium has recently transitioned to become an important multi-drug resistant, opportunistic pathogen. You will work at the UMC on the discovery and characterization of traits That Contribute to the ability of E. faecium to colonize the intestinal tract at high levels upon antibiotic treatment. Intestinal overgrowth by Enterococcus faecium is an important first step in a process That May Eventually lead to systemic infections in hospitalized patients. In this project, a broad repertoire of molecular and genomic techniques will be used to study the dynamics of intestinal colonization by E. faecium in an animal model. The techniques used include full metagenomic shotgun sequencing of the intestinal microbiota during antibiotic treatment and E. faecium colonization to elucidate the shifts in the composition of the microbiota. In addition, sequencing of bacterial RNA isolated from the gut (ie metatranscriptomics) at different time-points will be to identify ormed Which genes or E. faecium and or other members of the microbiota are overexpressed in vivo. This will lead to an understanding of the antibiotic-induced disruption of the microbial network in the gut and will point towards E. faecium genes thathave a role in intestinal colonization. These E. faecium genes will then be further Top Characterized functionally with the aim to explain mechanistically high-level intestinal colonization by E. faecium. The knowledge obtained in this project will form an important contribution in the quest for new treatment strategies against this emerging pathogen. This project is funded through an NWO VIDI grant.
The salary for this position is 100% up to € 2,743.00 gross per month based on full-time employment (working week of 36 hours).This is a temporary appointment for 4 years.
Details
Apply and learn more about this jobThe contact person for this position, Mr Dr W van Schaik, Assistant Professor, phone 088 75 5653 5.