PhD: research on invasive pulmonary aspergillosis in critically ill patients

The Clinical Infectious and Inflammatory Diseases Lab is part of the Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Transplantation at KU Leuven.
The research will be performed under supervision Prof. Joost Wauters (head if the lab), who has plenty of experience with high-quality PhD research.
The PhD candidate will be part of an international and interdisciplinary research team, and will get the chance to collaborate with clinical and preclinical expert researchers in the field of microbiology, histology, immunology, multi-omics and intensive care medicine from our own and other universities and research institutes.

Project

We are looking for a dynamic and highly-motivated PhD student who will perform innovative scientific research on invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA). Classically, IPA is an important life-threatening infection among immunosuppressed patients. However, in recent years, IPA has been appreciated as an emerging disease in critically ill patients admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU) due to severe influenza/COVID-19 (Schauwvlieghe, et al. 2018, Koehler et al. 2021) or acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF). While recent findings have suggested several potential mechanisms behind IPA (Influenza-associated pulmonary aspergillosis (IAPA) and COVID-19 associated pulmonary aspergillosis (CAPA), they are still not well understood (Feys, et al. 2022, 2024, Seldeslachts et al. 2024).
This project aims to provide a comprehensive image of the disease pathophysiology based on patient samples and autopsy specimen.
Your work will involve immunological, histological and multi-omics studies with bio-informatics to uncover how different pathophysiological factors contribute to IPA in critically ill patients.

Profile

Interested candidates must have a master’s degree in biomedical sciences, medicine, bioengineering, biochemical engineering technology, biology or equivalent, with excellent study results.

Qualified candidates:

• have a strong interest and/ or knowledge in the field of microbiology, histology and immunology;
• have a strong interest in bio-informatics, with good basis in Excell and R;
• are communicative and willing to present research results at (inter)national conferences, via social media and through teaching activities;
• are willing to supervise student/thesis projects;
• are well-organized, flexible, excel in critical-thinking and taking initiative;
• can work independently, but also have good teamwork skills;
• think in solutions, not in problems;
• are proficient in written and spoken English and are willing to pursue personal fellowship applications.

Offer

We offer:

• A challenging research project at the forefront of the field
• Excellent scientific environment and training in a top-ranked university
• State-of the art technology
• The possibility to live and work in the beautiful medieval university town Leuven, near Brussels in the heart of Europe

We offer you a PhD position for 4 years (start with 1 year, renewable after favourable evaluation) in our team.

You will be strongly encouraged to apply for an FWO grant, where you will be supported by Prof. Dr Joost Wauters' team.

Interested?

For more information please contact Prof. dr. Joost Wauters, mail: [email protected].

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