Postdoc in the field of Systems Biology/Toxicology (1.0 FTE)

Functieomschrijving

The post-doc that we are looking for will be working in a highly interdisciplinary environment, while developing novel research strategies that allow us to describe cellular and molecular changes that occur during the development of human disease. Your position will be in both the Maastricht Centre for Systems Biology (MaCSBio) and the department of Toxicogenomics to facilitate the development of a research line in Systems Toxicology.

In the context of the project “Complex Systems Framework for Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD)” you will generate a new set of data using a topographically enhanced cell culturing system. In this system, human primary hepatocytes can be cultured over longer periods of time, allowing the gradual development of an increasingly severe disease phenotype over time induced after repeated low dose chemical exposures. For continuous phenotyping of the conformational changes, high-content image-based Cell Painting methodologies will be used for morphological profiling of cellular components and organelles. Gene expression analysis using RNA-sequencing will be performed to obtain insight in the molecular processes accompanying disease state transitions in the system. Based on the detailed description of the processes involved in transitions during disease progression, you will construct a mathematical model that integrates both cellular and molecular features and that can be applied for the identification of molecular targets for disease treatment and prevention. The novel research strategy is not context dependent and may be used in the context of different disease types and organs or in other applications such as compound toxicity testing, and cancer drug combination efficiency.

The postdoc is expected to acquire externally funded research projects, lead and participate in multidisciplinary research teams, and contribute to various educational programmes including the 2-year master programme in Systems Biology.

More specific responsibilities of the position include:

• Supervision of the PhD candidate appointed on this project
• Coordination of the labwork that generates the required phenotypic and molecular data
• Development of a Complex Systems Framework that is able to integrate physiological features and molecular processes simultaneously
• Generate project proposals that can demonstrate the general applicability of the created framework

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