Period : Fixed-term contract
Place : Leuven
Apply no later than : March 31, 2016
Development of LAMP assay for respiratory tract infection pathogens
Project
Infectious diseases are a major burden to public health and the global economy, not in the least due to antimicrobial resistance. Rapid point of care (POC) in vitro diagnostics (IVD) are key tools in the effective clinical management of patients with infectious diseases. Yet there is still a large unmet clinical need for more rapid POC IVDs generating more clinically relevant, actionable information. Effectively addressing this need requires a change in the current approach in training researchers on IVDs, generating a new ‘breed’ of IVD researchers capable of closing the gap between the clinical and technological perspective.
EU H2020 project “New diagnostics for infectious diseases (ND4ID)” takes up this challenge by offering 15 early stage researchers (ESRs) a world-class training programme where they will be exposed to disciplines spanning clinical, technological and market-oriented view points, from both the academic and non-academic sector. As such, ND4ID will deliver ESRs that will be in high demand serving as an example for other academic and non-academic actors active in training IVD researchers and further strengthening Europe’s position in the internally competitive arena of IVD technology.
For KU Leuven, as one of the partners in this EU project, we are looking for a PhD student who will be working on the topic of community acquired respiratory tract infections (RTI) and development of ultrasensitive bioassays for detecting RTI-related viruses and bacteria. The greatest clinical need for the physician in RTI is to be able to rapidly distinguish patients presenting with viral RTI from those with bacterial RTI. Although the majority of community acquired RTI is of viral origin (estimated at 70%), physicians currently empirically prescribe antibiotics leading to their vast over-prescription. Viruses, as opposed to bacteria, not always have dsDNA, making the development of a nucleic acid based assay challenging, and making it too expensive for systematic use in primary care settings. Proteins provide an excellent alternative target, attainable by antibody-based tests. Those tests do not require target amplification, making them inherently fast, another important criterion for primary care settings. In addition, multiplexed antibody-based tests allow the inclusion of biomarkers for infection aiding to differentiate colonization from infection.
ESR hired on this project will address these clinical needs and technological challenges by working on the development of isothermal LAMP bioassay on a lateral flow device with sensitive but low-cost readout, developed within the project by another project partner (KTH, Sweden). More specifically, this ESR will work on:
- Development of singleplex and multiplex LAMP assays on standard qPCR instrument for detection of 4 pathogens selected as model organisms, being 2 viruses: Influenza virus and Respiratory Syncytial virus (RSV) and 2 bacteria species: Streptococcus pneumoniae and Haemophilus influenza
- Exploration of CMOS detectors as readout systems developed by NXP company, where ESR4 is expected to perform part of his/her research stay
- Development of labelling strategies for the LAMP products, enabling CMOS-based readout
- Integration of LAMP assay with the lateral flow device, developed by KTH partner (Sweden)
Profile
A PhD candidate should fulfil the following requirements:
- Candidates must be, at the time of recruitment, in the first four years (full-time equivalent research experience) of their research careers and have not been awarded a doctoral degree
- Mobility rule: at the time of recruitment, researchers must not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc) in Belgium for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately prior to the reference date
- Candidate must have a Master degree cum laude (> 70%) in Bioscience Engineering, Biomedical Sciences, Biosciences or equivale
- Previous experience in DNA/RNA work and development of molecular bioassays will be considered as a strong asset
- Candidates are highly motivated to do research in dynamic environment and as part of this unique EU training program
- Candidates are communicative, creative, eager to learn and able to work independently as well as part of the team
- Strong and proven knowledge of the English language is a must
- Willingness to travel
- Candidates must be available for starting between June 1 and September 1, 2016
Offer
A PhD candidate will be offered an unique opportunity to pursue the research in extremely dynamic and international MeBioS-Biosensor group at European renowned KU Leuven university as well as to become part of the world-class European training program on new diagnostics for infectious diseases. A PhD candidate will be enrolled in local training of the Arenberg Doctoral School at KU Leuven University as well as network-wide training within this European project through summer schools, workshops, conferences and secondments. Majority of his/her PhD research will be performed in the MeBioS-Biosensor group, KU Leuven, Willem de Croylaan 42, Heverlee (Leuven), supervised by prof. Jeroen Lammertyn. As part of the project training program and PhD, ESR will spend few months at the NXP company (Netherlands) and at KTH (Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan, Stockholm, Sweden with prof. Wouter van der Wijngaart).
The offered fellowship will cover tuition fees, monthly salary,mobility, travel and career development allowances in line with the H2020-MSCA-ITN-2015.
The applicants will go through the following selection procedure:
- Initial screening based on CV and motivation letter
- Interview(s) with selection committee
- Approval by the ND4ID project Supervisory Board
Selections will be made regardless of gender, nationality, religion,ethnicity and cultural background, but aiming for a good balance among the group.
Interested?
(Ref. BAP-2015-577)
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