CSC scholarship PhD position in identification of novel risk factors for cardiometabolic  diseases

The Department of Clinical Epidemiology at Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC, the
Netherlands) is looking for one PhD candidate through CSC scholarship
(https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/scholarships/sea/csc-leiden-university-scholarship) with
enthusiasm in using OMICS approaches to identify novel risk factors for cardiometabolic
diseases. The candidate will work in the research group led by Prof. Frits Rosendaal. The
Department of Clinical Epidemiology (LUMC) has a 30-year track record of patient oriented
clinical research on haemostasis and thrombosis, osteoarthritis as well as metabolic disorders.
For this purpose, two cohorts, the Multiple Environmental and Genetic Assessment of Risk
Factors for Venous Thrombosis study and the Netherlands Epidemiology of Obesity study are
established and maintained in the department. The department is among the world leaders in
Epidemiology and much of the research is performed in international collaborations (for an
overview see https://www.lumc.nl/research/programmes/Programmes/clinical-epidemiology/).
The Netherlands Epidemiology of Obesity (NEO) study is a prospective cohort study that
included 6671 overweight and obese individuals from the general Dutch population, aged
between 45 and 65 years, who will undergo extensive state-of-the-art measurements (for a
complete list of baseline measurements see https://www.lumc.nl/org/neostudie/researchers/variables/codebook-neo1/codebook-neo1-intro/) at inclusion and who will
be followed for the occurrence of clinical disease in the coming 20 years. The NEO study is a
large population-based cohort studies with in-depth measurements on energy expenditure,
body composition and OMICS data (genetics, both targeted and untargeted metabolomics)
together with extensive clinical endpoints. In addition, a mixed meal challenge was embedded
in the baseline study and postprandial blood samples from all 6671 participants were collected
30 and 150 minutes after the liquid mixed meal, apart from fasting samples. A broad selection
of blood parameters were measured at both fasting and postprandial states. This large-scale
food intervention study provides a unique opportunity to investigate dynamic physiological
changes in disease development.
Your mission
You will be working on genetics, metabolomics and gut microbiome data (in plan) in the
NEO study to identify novel risk factors for chronic liver disease, type 2 diabetes and
cardiovascular diseases.
You will be working on the NEO meal response data to identify determinants of metabolic
responses after a meal and explore what metabolomic changes are associated with increased
risks of cardiometabolic diseases using NEO follow-up data.
You will be working with individual- and summary-level GWAS data, applying Mendelian
randomization approach to understand the causal relationship between
metabolite/metabolic changes and other cardiometabolic diseases.
Your profile
Requirements
Master’s degree in epidemiology, public health, biomedical science or related subjects.
Interests in epidemiology and documented experience in handling OMICS data.
Knowledge of statistical genetic approaches such as GWAS analyses, Mendelian
Randomization, functional annotation etc.
Knowledge on programming languages such as R, Stata or Python.
Experience in Linux-based environments and knowledge of cloud computing.
Must demonstrate fluent English language skills both oral and written. TOEFL, or
equivalent, may be required.
Location: Leiden, the Netherlands
Application
Welcome to apply at the latest 1 December 2021. Please send your CV (in English) along with
a motivation letter to Dr. Ruifang Li (r.li@lumc.nl). If you have any further question, please
send the enquiry to Dr. Ruifang Li (r.li@lumc.nl)
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附件(81.9KB) CSC_position_Leiden_2021.pdf