"PhD Alzheimer’s Disease and other tauopathies: TAME Marie Curie project"

Dementia is recognized worldwide as a public health priority due to its increase in prevalence with age, to near pandemic extent by 2050. In view of this urgent medical and societal need, the first tau network of Europe, TAME, was established. The PhD project is part of the TAME Marie Curie project. TAME aims to provide better understanding of tau-related diseases leading to dementia and supports the development of new, safer, personalised and more effective diagnosis and therapeutic interventions for Alzheimer’s Disease and the lesser common tauopathies, using nanobodies.

We offer a position for an ambitious and enthusiastic PhD student who will conduct research jointly at two renowned labs: the Neurochemistry Lab, led by Prof. Dr. Teunissen, and the Molecular Neurodegeneration lab, led by Prof. Dr. Wiep Scheper.

The project's objectives are:

• To develop immunoassays using nanobodies to detect different tau species in bodily fluids such as CSF and blood, using advanced, high-sensitivity technologies such as Simoa.
• To validate the assays analytically and clinically in patients with tauopathies, such as Alzheimer's disease (AD) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD) in samples of high-quality biobanks.
• To evaluate the potential of using nanobodies to block tau aggregation and downstream neuronal damage in advanced neuronal cell culture models.
• To validate the use of novel detection tools and nanobodies in brain tissue from patients with tauopathies.

Requirements: As a PhD student, you have excellent organisational, communication and teamwork skills, as you will collaborate with scientists from multiple disciplines and join two independent labs. You have interest in or experience with using state-of-the-art statistical software programs, as well as experience in scientific writing. Moreover, you have: an MSc degree in neuroscience, biochemistry or a related field; a strong affinity and proven creativity in wet lab science; affinity with and experience in immunoassay development. Note: Important strict eligibility criteria according to MARIE SKLODOWSKA CURIE programs: You must be in the first four years of your research career and not yet have been awarded a doctoral degree at the time of recruitment. At the time of the application deadline, you must also have a European Master's degree or equivalent and must not have resided or carried out your main activity (work, studies, etc.) in the Netherlands for more than 12 months in the three years prior to the contract start date. A 3-6 month internship in another laboratory/country will be part of the Marie Curie project.

Conditions of employment: A contract for 12 months, with the intention to extend for a total of 4 years. The Guideline PhD contract applies to this vacancy. Salary scale OIO: € 3.108 to € 3.939 gross based on full-time employment (depending on education and experience) and a year-end bonus of 8.3%. Vacation hours: 190.4 per year based on full-time employment and possibility to save additional hours. Free and unlimited access to our online learning environment GoodHabitz. Pension accrual with the ABP, of which we pay 70% of the premium. Reimbursement of your public transport expenses. Do you prefer biking to work? Then we have a good bicycle scheme. An active staff association and Jong Amsterdam UMC association, both of which organize fun (sports) activities and events.

Employer: Amsterdam UMC. The mission of the Neurochemical Laboratory of Amsterdam UMC, location VUmc, is to improve patient care for neurological disorders by developing biomarkers in body fluids. A primary area of attention is the early diagnosis and understanding of dementia, for which there is close collaboration with the Alzheimer Center. A second focus area is Multiple Sclerosis in collaboration with the MS Center Amsterdam. State of the art ultrasensitive and multiplex detection techniques are used. The research of the Scheper lab focuses on the involvement of the neuron-specific proteostatic defence mechanisms in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative disease, in particular tau- and a-synuclein-mediated diseases. We use advanced primary mouse and human iPSC culture models employing state-of-the-art molecular and cell biological techniques and analyses.