PhD Candidate in Rehabilitation Medicine – Biological Age and Biomarkers

About your role

As a PhD candidate, you coordinate and conduct the research within WP3 in close collaboration with clinical and methodological experts. Your work will be largely data-driven, always with a clear eye on application in rehabilitation practice.

Your tasks include:

• Designing and conducting a systematic review of biomarkers of biological age (epigenetic, metabolic, organ-specific, functional), including assessment of clinimetric properties.
• Selecting, linking, cleaning and harmonizing existing datasets, including population studies and clinical databases, in collaboration with partners within BIO COMPaSS.
• Applying advanced statistical and data-science methods (e.g. clustering, latent class/latent profile analyses, dimension reduction, multimodal integration, prediction models) to identify biological-age phenotypes.
• Characterizing the identified phenotypes in relation to health and functioning.
• Contributing to the translation of phenotypes into practical biomarker sets that can be used in clinical follow-up and lifestyle interventions.
• Publishing results in international peer-reviewed journals and presenting at (inter)national conferences.
• Working closely with PhD candidates, postdocs, clinicians, epidemiologists, data scientists and other researchers in the BIO COMPaSS consortium.From year 4 onwards, specific tasks will gradually be transferred to a second PhD candidate within WP3, with whom you will already collaborate closely from the start. You will complete your project with a PhD thesis.
  About you
  You have a strong analytical interest in ageing, lifestyle interventions, biomarkers and data analysis, and you are keen to conduct research with direct relevance for the health of people with (or at risk of) lifestyle-related conditions.In addition, you have:
• A completed Master’s degree in a relevant field, for example Human Movement Sciences, Epidemiology, Biostatistics, Bioinformatics, Health Sciences, Biomedical Sciences, Data Science or a related discipline.
• Affinity with ageing and biomarker research, preferably including epigenetic or metabolic biomarkers.
• Good programming skills in statistical software (e.g. R, Python or similar), or strong motivation and demonstrable basic skills to learn this quickly.
• Preferably experience with analyzing large and/or high-dimensional data (e.g. omics, extensive clinical datasets, registries).
• Interest in or experience with advanced statistical methods (e.g. multivariate models, causal inference, machine learning) is an asset.
• Good oral and written communication skills in English.
• Preferably good command of Dutch, in view of coordination with clinical partners and, where needed, contact with patients.
• A proactive attitude, strong organizational skills and the ability to work both independently and in a multidisciplinary team.We greatly value an inclusive work environment and explicitly invite candidates with diverse backgrounds and experiences to apply.
  Our offer
  
• You will be employed by Amsterdam UMC Research BV.
• A contract for 12 months, with the intention to extend for a total of four years. The Guideline PhD contract applies to this vacancy.
• Classification in salary scale OIO: € 3.217 to € 4.077 gross for full-time employment (depending on experience). In addition to a good basic salary, we offer 8.3% end-of-year bonus. Calculate your net salary here.
• Holiday hours: 194.4 per year for full time and a possibility to save additional hours.
• 100% reimbursement for public transport travel costs. If you travel by foot, bicycle, or car, a mileage allowance of €0.21 per km applies (up to a maximum of 40 km one way by car).
• Do you prefer walking or cycling? Take advantage of our good bike scheme.
• Pension accrual with BeFrank, a modern, comprehensible and fairly priced pension.Watch this video with more information about joining Amsterdam UMC Research BV.